


blue fire and red ice

by valentinehoax



Series: in the grey city, lights glitter like gold [1]
Category: NCT (Band)
Genre: Abuse, Alternate Universe - Future, Alternate Universe - Supernatural Elements, Hybrid prostitution, Hybrids, Japanese Mythology & Folklore, M/M, Mentions of Masturbation, Mentions of pornography, Non-Graphic Violence, Other Additional Tags to Be Added, Slow Burn, Swearing, Witches
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-12-02
Updated: 2021-03-09
Packaged: 2021-03-10 04:41:39
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 12
Words: 35,481
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27838531
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/valentinehoax/pseuds/valentinehoax
Summary: Jaehyun's life, in his opinion, is as normal as he can make it. He's made sure he fits in. If he wants to break that from time to time—well, no one has to know about that if he never acts on it.Then Yuta enters his life, and brings with him a whirlwind of change.
Relationships: Jung Yoonoh | Jaehyun/Nakamoto Yuta
Series: in the grey city, lights glitter like gold [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/2117325
Comments: 35
Kudos: 113





	1. Chapter 1

Jaehyun is used to everything being part of a routine. His hair stays black, his clothes stay what his parents consider normal, and the only thing that goes in his skin is pharmacy-bought moisturizer. For the first twenty-two years of his life, this has been enough for him. He stays on the path paved beneath his feet, smoothed out by the voices of everyone calling out his name.

Sometimes he passes by fashion magazines and wonders what more he can do. His standard combination of a t-shirt and jeans, with a belt and jacket, sometimes feels old. His haircut that all his family seem to have makes him dislike looking in the mirror, and he kind of wishes he has the courage to branch out. He wants to try all the colours of the rainbow in a screaming technicolor, or a monochrome design of sharp black and white patterns.

That isn't to say he dislikes the gentle pastels of his shirts. He just wishes for variation.

"Dude, just buy another set of clothing. They don't have to know." Johnny makes it sound simple.

"It's not like I'd be able to pull it off," Jaehyun muses, planting his head in his textbook. They're in the university library, seated in the group study area.

He can feel the look Johnny is giving him, making the skin of the back of his neck prickle. "You know you can."

Jaehyun rests on his chin, pouting. "I don't know what style I like anyway."

"Go through magazines. Find what you want."

"How am I supposed to hide the clothing when I go home?"

Johnny snorts. "Do your parents go through all your stuff?" He raises an eyebrow, knowing the answer is a resounding 'no'. It feels as if Johnny is silently calling Jaehyun a coward—a biting criticism, verging on an insult. It's made worse when Jaehyun considers the fact he lives alone, so no, his parents are unlikely to find out, meaning Johnny is right. Ugh.

Jaehyun is the kind to rise to a challenge, but no one's ever thought to challenge him like this. And it's boring to decide something like that by himself. Even Johnny won't (but that might also be because Johnny wants Jaehyun to take this plunge without needing a push for once).

Johnny makes it all sound easy, Jaehyun muses as he walks back home to his flat under the cover of darkness. Like he can just...roll out of bed the next morning and do whatever he likes.

But, as his parents would tell him, his clothing is a choice. His sexuality isn't—being bisexual is fine, even if extended family make pointed remarks—but if he starts dressing 'bad', then who will employ him? God forbid he even thinks of getting a singular piercing or a tattoo. Jaehyun won't, the needles scare him, but he's wondered what one of the temporary tattoos would look like, what the ink from a delicate brush would look like against his pale skin.

* * *

"I told you about Yuta," Johnny says, slinging his bag onto the table and pulling out his stuff. Jaehyun frowns as he sifts through his notes, not looking up at him.

"He's going to join us. You cool with that?"

"Yeah," Jaehyun says distractedly. "That guy in your history lecture, right?" He peels his eyes away from his notes and looks at Johnny, who's settled in his seat.

"That's right," Johnny says agreeably. There's a strange glint in his eyes that alarms Jaehyun. The last time Johnny's been this shade of smugness, it resulted in a blind first date with some guy Jaehyun felt quickly repulsed by. His hand had lingered too long on his waist, his eyes too long on his legs.

"Here he is," Johnny chirps, breaking through Jaehyun's thoughts. Johnny waves, presumably to Yuta, and Jaehyun ducks his head back to his notes.

"Yo," Someone—again, presumably Yuta—says, pulling the chair next to Johnny out with a screech. "The professor said he's gonna email us the resources."

"Oh, cool." Johnny nods, nudging Jaehyun with his foot. Jaehyun nudges back, frowning into his notes in pretense.

"I'm Yuta," that's clearly directed at Jaehyun, so he lifts his head to look at Yuta and—

"I'm Jaehyun," he says, feeling his ears burn an uncomfortable red as he struggles not to stare. Yuta doesn't notice Jaehyun's sudden flush, or if he does he has the courtesy to pretend not to. Yuta nods, and Jaehyun watches the chain from his lip to his ear dangle.

With Yuta seated diagonally to Jaehyun, it becomes slightly difficult for Jaehyun to glance at Yuta without staring. He's not brave enough to look Yuta in the face, instead opting to trace the tattoos on his neck. There are tree branches that circle his neck, stopping just beneath his earlobe. Underneath his jaw are two antler horns, framing his face. He has piercings in his ears, and a second look lets Jaehyun count them; he counts seven in Yuta’s right, unable to see the other. Yuta has a sleeve pulled down over his hand, but his fingers poking out and holding the pen are adorned with rings.

Jaehyun knows he’s still looking, forgetting common courtesy. Johnny kicks him as Jaehyun studies Yuta’s vibrant red hair, pulled back in a ponytail. The small braids are interwoven with sparkly string, and they catch the artificial light, as if teasing and luring Jaehyun in.

Another kick, and this time Johnny’s leg bumps the table, making everything rattle. Yuta looks up, startled, meeting Jaehyun’s eyes. Jaehyun closes his jaw with a click audible to him, and he blushes, looking down at his notes.

Johnny sighs loudly. Jaehun tugs on one of his ears, still feeling Yuta’s gaze on him. When Jaehyun sneaks a peek, he sees Yuta smiling.

“Jaehyun,” Yuta says. “Have you never seen a tattoo before?”

Jaehyun puts down his pen, ashamed of himself. He should know better—he’s had decorum thumped into his head by his parents ever since he was little, knowing all too well how unpleasant it was to have everyone looking at you. Especially when you had no idea what their intent was.

“I have,” he says quietly. “I’m sorry for staring.” It’s not just the tattoos, and he’s pretty sure the other two know it as well. Johnny, because he’s seen the flush of Jaehyun’s face many times before when he’s greeted by someone he fancies, and Yuta, because Yuta gives the impression that he knows he’s hot.

“It’s fine,” Yuta says, sounding fairly amused. “I want to stare at you, too, though. Is that okay?”

Jaehyun scans Yuta’s words for mockery. He twitches his nose as if trying to sniff out any threat, knowing full well that’s not something he can do. He’s not a werewolf or something, he thinks as he nods.

“I’m fine with it but...why would you want to stare at me?” Jaehyun asks in genuine confusion, making Yuta blink and snort out a laugh. He tilts his head, and Jaehyun is awestruck over how  _ pretty _ it makes Yuta look.

“With a face like yours? Have you not looked in the mirror?” Yuta doesn’t wait for Jaehyun to respond, instead turning to Johnny. “Johnny, I’m stealing him for a moment,” he announces, standing and waving a hand at Jaehyun to follow.

Jaehyun stands at the command, glancing at Johnny in confusion. Johnny only shrugs and grins, clearly seeing no danger—he would pull Jaehyun to him if he thought Yuta was unsafe, so Jaehyun trusts his friend and goes.

Yuta leads Jaehyun outside, around the side of the building. He looks around, seeing no one, then turns to Jaehyun.

“Hello, witch-boy,” Yuta says cheerfully.

Jaehyun flinches at being addressed like that. It’s not something freely advertised—the days of supernatural rule have long since passed by, and now Jaehyun and his coven have been leading relatively ordinary lives. This means Yuta is  _ something _ other than human, but there’s zero hint as to what. Tattooing isn’t particularly common for witches, given the conservative nature of their society. Vampires and werewolves generally have skin too tough to penetrate for the needle, and Jaehyun’s heard they react badly to the ink. (He can’t confirm this for himself, having never actually met one.)

So, quite frankly, Jaehyun has no clue who or what this man is. Yuta is smirking at Jaehyun knowingly, as if watching the wheels turn in Jaehyun’s head.

“I’m descended from a long line of  _ miko, _ ” he explains.

“What’s  _ miko _ ?” Jaehyun asks cautiously.

“Uh…” Yuta thinks for a moment. “A Japanese shrine maiden? In Shintoism, one of the religions in Japan.”

“I see. I haven’t studied that.” Jaehyun shifts his weight uneasily. He has no idea if Yuta’s safe or not. Religious figures tend to have issues with witches—his distant relatives of the west would know this first hand.

“That’s fine,” Yuta says brightly. “I’m just glad to meet you. I thought I smelled magic on Johnny’s clothing, does he know?”

Jaehyun sighs, “no, he doesn’t. I’m afraid to.”

Yuta nods sympathetically. Humans are too unpredictable to just randomly tell—they know they exist of course, it’s common knowledge. But the prejudice is seemingly too great to overcome, and those that hunt the supernatural for sport are far too active.

At that moment, there’s a sharp scream that breaks through the silence, followed by a faint cheer. Yuta and Jaehyun freeze, until they hear it again. The animalistic sound to it makes their skin crawl; they don’t need to look at each other to know they’re going.

Jaehyun’s thankful he works out as he chases after Yuta, who’s much faster and seems to know exactly where to go. They turn down several corners, a seemingly winding path Jaehyun didn’t know existed on campus. The next open space they land in is full of people, all gathered watching one spot. There’s a careless atmosphere, one that further sets Jaehyun’s teeth on edge. Yuta shoves through the crowd, Jaehyun joining them and ignoring the grumbles.

When they reach the middle, they’re treated to a sight that makes Jaehyun feel ill. Yuta leaps into action, slamming a foot into one of the offenders, punching another; there’s a strange glow in his hair, a light streaming from his eyes, that tells everyone enough—he’s not human, he’s on  _ it’s _ side.

It being a hybrid, Jaehyun knows. The man is lying on the ground, on his side, with dog ears twitching on the top of his head. His brown hair is matted with blood, bruises already forming along his exposed arms. His breaths are in short bursts, eyes closed. When Jaehyun moves near him, one eye flickers open, revealing a clear blue eye.

“Leave, or I’ll call the gods on the lot of you,” Yuta spits out, a threat supported by his loose strands of hair rising up. It makes the humans scatter, including the offenders; Jaehyun wonders if Yuta was able to mark them in any way, to follow them. Yuta turns to Jaehyun, who has kneeled beside the hybrid.

“Hey there,” Jaehyun says softly, a hand ghosting over the man’s features. Maybe not a man though—a boy on the verge of being a man, much too young to look so...unkempt, with dirty clothes and skinny limbs.

“We’re here to help you,” he says, hearing a whimper from the hybrid. Jaehyun feels his heart break. “Do you mind if we pick you up?”

Another whimper. Jaehyun bites his lip. “I’m going to put you to sleep,” he whispers, leaning down, “when you wake up, I promise you’ll feel better.” He holds up a finger. “Look at the tip of my finger,” he sees the blue eye follow Jaehyun’s slow movements. “Now  _ sleep. _ ” Jaehyun places his finger on the hybrid’s nose, and watches the blue eye shut, his breathing evening out.

Jaehyun looks up at Yuta, who looks at him with respect. “So what now?”

Yuta shrugs. "Can we take him back to your place?"

"Yeah. I live alone, and I know medicinal...things." He nearly admitted to actually being a witch out loud. It's fine for Yuta to announce his presence, especially broadcasting it like that, since those who serve the the gods are just about the only people well-received by humans. It's those deemed _demonic_ that generally get the brunt of it, and for Jaehyun's status as a witch, that would mean a potential burning. Hybrids, in Jaehyun's opinion, have it far worse, a prime example being right in front of him.

"Wait, I'll text Johnny," he pulls out his phone and fires off a quick message, then shoves his phone in his pocket, carefully picking the hybrid up. "Okay, my place is just outside of campus," he says to Yuta, who nods and grabs the discarded beanie from the ground, presumably the hybrid's.

Jaehyun hears Yuta mutter what sounds like a spell as they head off, Jaehyun trying to find a good balance between speed and not jostling the hybrid in his arms too much. A part of him wishes this isn't really happening; when he said he wanted to break the monotony of his life, he didn't quite mean it like this.


	2. Chapter 2

Jaehyun wakes on the floor of his bedroom with sunlight hitting his face. For a moment he’s still, unwilling to move his aching body any further. He’s sending a prayer to the universe, hoping this was all a dream—after all, there’s no way he’s suddenly taken in a hybrid and had a miko crash on his couch, right?

There’s a sniffle from the bed, and Jaehyun closes his eyes and sighs. The events from yesterday really did happen, and the sound of shuffling confirms it. A head pops over the edge, bright blue eyes peering down at him. Jaehyun looks back just as curiously.

“Hey,” he says, voice heavy with sleep. The hybrid’s golden-brown ears prick at the sound. Much to Jaehyun’s relief, the hybrid doesn’t seem scared. Trying to move slowly, Jaehyun sits up, the hybrid moving away cautiously, but not fearfully.

“Do you hurt anywhere still?” On the journey home, the hybrid had fallen asleep; as soon as they arrived at Jaehyun’s flat and put the hybrid down, Jaehyun had started to heal the hybrid as Yuta watched. Johnny had stopped by with their belongings during this time, with Yuta answering the door. Yuta had said Johnny wasn’t suspicious of their identities, and Jaehyun knows Johnny won’t stop annoying him about having Yuta stay the night.

The hybrid shakes his head in response to Jaehyun’s question. They both look at each other some more, sizing each other up.

“What’s your name?” Jaehyun asks. The hybrid visibly flinches, biting his lip.

“Mark,” the hybrid says. Despite the meekness in Mark’s voice, he continues to look at Jaehyun in the face, almost daring him to change his name. Jaehyun wants to tell Mark he would never do something like that, but he knows Mark won’t believe it. (He has no reason to, for all he knows Jaehyun’s trying to trap him.)

“I’m Jaehyun.” He nods at Mark. “I’m a witch, by the way. I healed you—in the living room is Yuta, who’s a miko.”

Jaehyun knows he shouldn’t give out this information so easily. He doesn’t know much about hybrids, but the most famous (or notorious) aspect of dog hybrids is their extreme loyalty to their owner. But Mark doesn’t wear a collar, like how all the owned ones do. And even if he did have an  _ owner _ , there’s no way Jaehyun will let Mark go back, not after the beating he just received.

Jaehyun also knows that if Mark doesn’t have an owner, there’s a good chance Mark will be put down as an unwanted stray if he’s found.

Jaehyun stands, stretching out his aching body. Healing Mark had taken more out of him than he realised, if the rumble in his stomach is anything to go by.

“Can you move?” Jaehyun asks Mark.

“Yes,” Mark answers, shuffling away from Jaehyun.

“Do you want something to eat, then? I’m guessing dog hybrids eat like humans?”

Mark eyes Jaehyun warily, leaning away from Jaehyun. “Yes, we do.”

“Okay. I’ll make something then.” Jaehyun walks to the bedroom door, pulling it open. Then he turns, looks at Mark, then sighs. “Wait, I’ll get you clothes.”

After rummaging around his wardrobe, he digs up clothing he thinks will fit adequately on Mark’s skinny frame. He chucks them onto the bed, making Mark jerk away like the clothing was on fire. Jaehyun doesn’t comment on the sudden paleness of Mark’s complexion, but makes a note to not throw things at him.

When he enters the living room, Yuta is sitting on the couch scrolling through his phone. He looks up at Jaehyun when he walks in.

“Is he awake?”

“Yeah. I’m going to make breakfast for me and Mark, you want some?”

“If you don’t mind. I can eat anything.”

“Cool.” Jaehyun opens a cupboard in the kitchen, Yuta trailing behind him. “I told him about us, by the way.”

Yuta seems to understand what Jaehyun means instantly. “Oh. That’s fine. It’s not really a secret for me.”

“Will you be all right? I mean, you did announce it to the whole campus…”

“Yeah, I’m fine.” Yuta brushes him off. He runs a hand through his tangled red hair. Jaehyun notices how the eyebrow piercing and the lip piercing have been taken out, and the ones in his ears have been replaced by studs.

“A lot of people knew anyway,” Yuta continues, “and mikos still have a position in Japanese society that’s respected. The only people I have to worry about are people who are like, anti-pagan, but up against someone supernatural…” he raises an elegant eyebrow. “It’s different for you though, right? Salem and all that.”

Jaehyun is in the middle of cracking an egg into a frying pan as Yuta says that. “Yup.” He pops the ‘p’. “Those darn pilgrims,” he says jokingly. “Most of them weren’t even witches.”

Yuta studies Jaehyun’s profile intently. For a moment Jaehyun lets himself believe it’s out of an interest that’s not quite platonic, until the moment is broken by a floorboard squeaking.

“Oh. hey, Mark,” Yuta says easily. “Glad you’re up.”

* * *

Breakfast is quiet. Mark doesn’t begin eating until the other two have put food in their mouths, and Jaehyun wonders if that’s common for hybrids. He’s never owned one, and he doesn’t know anyone who has, either. Witches tend to hate ownership, considering the manufacturing of hybrids to be an abomination—Jaehyun is on the fence about the whole thing.

“So, Mark,” Yuta breaks the silence once they’re all a good way through their meals. Mark puts down his chopsticks and makes himself look small. Jaehyun has the urge to ruffle Mark’s hair and tell him it’ll be fine, that Yuta doesn’t bite.

Then again, Jaehyun has no idea what Yuta’s really like.

“Do you have an owner?” Jaehyun winces at how blunt Yuta is. Mark seems appreciative of the straight-forward approach, however, as he looks at Yuta with wide eyes.

“No.”

“Good.” Yuta nods decisively. “If you did, I’d kick his ass.” 

Mark’s eyes dart over Yuta’s appearance. The tattoos, piercings and hair must be a shock—and the flaming skull on Yuta’s t-shirt, the chains around his neck, the steel rings adorning his fingers.

“May I ask something?” Mark asks, glancing between the two of them pensively.

“Sure,” Yuta says as Jaehyun nods.

“Are you two...dating?”

“No,” they say simultaneously. Yuta grins, continuing with, “we just met yesterday. And pretty boys like Jaehyun aren’t my type.”

Jaehyun silently sips his water.

“Okay, sorry for assuming.” Mark droops in his chair, and Jaehyun feels his heart pang. “Thank you both for saving me—I should’ve said it sooner, sorry. Um, is there anything I-I can do to pay you both back?”

“I don’t need payment,” Jaehyun assures Mark.

“Same,” Yuta says easily. “Didn’t do it for the payment.”

“Okay…” Mark says slowly. “Then I’ll wash the dishes and be out of your way, then.”

Jaehyun shrugs, standing at the same time as Mark. They both grab their plates, Mark taking Yuta’s, and stacks them in the sink.

“Hey, where are you going?” Yuta asks as Jaehyun heads for the couch. Thinking he’s talking to him, Jaehyun turns to Yuta, only to see the miko’s gaze firmly on someone else.

Mark jumps in the air, head down and ears sagging. “I was leaving?” His voice is quiet, almost a whisper.

Yuta glances at Jaehyun, and the witch is taken aback by the sharpness in Yuta’s gaze. Then Mark’s words sink in, and Jaehyun’s jaw drops open.

“Leaving where?” Jaehyun asks, hoping he doesn’t sound too aggressive. Mark doesn’t flinch at Jaehyun’s question, so he takes that as a success.

“I don’t know,” Mark says awkwardly.

“Do you have a place to go?” Jaehyun presses. Yuta watches them both, expressionless.

“Not really…” Mark’s voice rises in pitch and remains soft.

“Then stay.” Jaehyun leaves no room for protest as he flops his body onto the couch, patting the seat beside him. “Let’s watch a show or something as the food digests.” 

* * *

Yuta leaves for his afternoon class, mumbling about needing a change of clothes and to wash off his makeup. He also promises to return tonight to check they’re still alive, to which Jaehyun sighs in relief at.

Jaehyun makes Mark wash up, which the hybrid didn’t seem too willing to do; but when Mark next emerges, he seems noticeably happier. He sits next to Jaehyun on the couch, eyeing Jaehyun in case he protests. Jaehyun doesn’t (obviously), instead pausing his show and asking Mark if there’s anything he wants to watch.

“No,” Mark says timidly. “I don’t know what’s on—I’m allowed to watch whatever you’re watching, right?”

“Of course,” Jaehyun blinks, perplexed, “I invited you to join me.” He scans Mark’s appearance. “Can I ask—do you have a tail?”

The sudden change in topic doesn’t bother Mark, who only blinks and nods, floppy ears bouncing. “I do. I keep it in my trousers though, I don’t like having it out.”

Jaehyun can’t imagine that it’s comfortable. But then again, he doesn’t know  _ anything _ about hybrids, and the more he thinks of things to ask Mark, the more he’s worried he’ll do something to upset him. For example—how much dog is a dog hybrid? Should Jaehyun treat Mark like a human with added features, or like a dog with human features? Mark seems like a human—a nervous, timid one, if you exclude the blue eyes and brown ears.

“You can ask me anything,” Mark says as if reading Jaehyun’s mind.

“All right…” Jaehyun says slowly, “to be honest, I have no idea what I’m doing. I don’t know how much humans know of hybrids—witches aren’t taught much, to be honest. We try to keep out of it since it’s such a political topic, and we have a bad history with that sort of thing.”

“What kind of history?” Mark asks.

“Salem,” Jaehyun answers simply. Mark tilts his head, and Jaehyun suppresses the urge to coo at the boy. “There were a lot of witch trials and stuff back in the day,” Jaehyun clarifies, “burnings, hangings, a lot of being driven out of our homes.”

“Witches can’t fight?”

“No way,” Jaehyun says with a laugh, “The standard witch can heal well and brew potions, but fighting isn’t for us. I’m not well-trained or anything, for the record.” Partially because he didn’t pay attention to his mentor, partially because he hasn’t opened his grimoire in years, and partially because he simply doesn’t care all that much in the first place.

They lapse into silence, with Jaehyun watching Mark fiddle with his sleeves. None of his clothing fits right, and while it looks cute to see Mark in oversized clothing, Jaehyun has to wonder if Mark is comfortable. Or comfortable with staying here at all, really; again, the knowledge that Jaehyun can easily be seen as a threat crosses his mind. 

“Is there anything I  _ should _ know?” Jaehyun asks abruptly. It’s an opening for Mark to say anything that’ll make him uneasy, passing it off as a dog hybrid thing; Mark doesn’t take it, shaking his head.

Jaehyun doesn’t know if Mark knows he’s holding back. The witch is almost certain Mark has something underlying—but hell, he’s not a psychologist, and he’s no hybrid expert, as he keeps reminding himself.

* * *

He lets Mark sleep in his bedroom. Mark protested at first, saying something about a hierarchy and it’s  _ not his place, _ so Jaehyun all but orders him to sleep there. As soon as he put his foot down, Mark caved. His bedroom has the most wards in case someone tries to attack him at night (which isn’t incommon), and he’ll be damned if he allows Mark’s attackers to somehow get to the hybrid again.

Unfortunately for Jaehyun, he only has one bedroom. He’ll either have to move or get a new bed, somehow. It’s doubtful he can afford a bigger place, but maybe he can get the same area with two smaller bedrooms. Given he’s basically living off of his parent’s money with a bit earned from some witching side work, he can’t ask for more without explaining  _ why, _ and then he has to explain why he has a hybrid. Which his parents are resolutely against.

So he’s lying on his couch, phone in hand, asking himself if he should look up information on hybrids. Of course he should, but he’s gradually becoming aware of the prejudice against hybrids, which is arguably more widespread than anything on witches.

With a sigh, he enters the term  _ dog hybrid _ into the search engine. The first webpage is about adopting a hybrid, promoted as ‘family friendly and non-violent’. The second is on hiring a hybrid for a day if you can’t afford to own one. The third is...pornography.

Jaehyun stares at it. Porn? There’s no way in hell he’s clicking, he thinks. He’s never been a huge pornography fan, but he’ll admit privately that he’s jerked off to the occasional click. Most of his viewing was a quick video, getting in and out, then erasing the history. He hadn’t paid all that much attention to what the tags were saying.

His thumb hovers over the links, then he clicks the first one.

‘Family-friendly and non-violent’, and the range consists of dogs, cats, birds, rabbits, and lizards. All strange mash-ups, nearly unholy in their existence —and this particular agency even boasts being able to manufacture one. Just reading that is enough to take Jaehyun off the fence and straight into no-way-in-hell territory.

Feeling a little sick, he navigates to the second webpage. And the first tagline he reads is advertising that ‘anything for a price’. He leaves that.

He doesn’t bother to click on the porn. He scrolls past that, then opens the wikipedia page before shutting it immediately. No, he shouldn’t trust the words of humans. Humans barely understand the basic concepts of magic, unable to wield it—why should he expect them to know anything about the creatures they’ve made?

* * *

“Good morning,” the windows to the living are opened and the sunlight hits Jaehyun. He groans, wiggling around on the couch. “Why’re you sleeping on the couch?”

Jaehyun opens his eyes carefully, trying not to blind himself. “What’re you doing here?”

“To see you after your night with Yuta,” Johnny grins. “How was it?”

“Nothing happened,” Jaehyun says.

He hears Johnny suck in a breath sharply, and Jaehyun frowns at the sound. He follows where Johnny’s gaze is, and he’s looking at Mark, who’s nervously peeking around the coner, wearing Jaehyun’s too-big clothing.

“Dude,” Johnny says quietly, “you got a hybrid?” There’s something like disappointment in his voice, and Jaehyun doesn’t know what to make of it. They’ve never properly talked about things like this—especially since hybrids are so normalised in human society.

“Kind of,” Jaehyun says.

Johnny frowns at Jaehyun, then his expression softens when he looks at Mark. Jaehyun watches as Johnny waves in greeting to Mark, who waves back. Cutely, Jaehyun thinks.

“Jaehyun,” Johnny says. He focuses on his friend again. “Want to explain?”

So he does. He sits up and gestures for Mark to sit next to him, Johnny in an armchair nearby, and Jaehyun tells him the story of how Yuta and Jaehyun came across a hybrid and saved him. Jaehyun leaves out a few key details of healing Mark, glossing over it by saying, “he’s a fast healer, and the injuries weren’t so bad.”

“Did you know Yuta was a miko?” Jaehyun asks. He’s already confirmed with Yuta that Jaehyun’s allowed to pretty much run his mouth.

“I did,” Johnny confirms. He glances at Mark. “Do you own him now?”

Jaehyun stiffens in his seat. “No,” he says coldly.

“Then who will?”

The question makes Jaehyun clench his teeth. Johnny doesn’t seem all that disturbed by hybrids—and for good reason, by the time Johnny was born the prostitution of hybrids was already widespread. (Not that Jaehyun was aware of this fact.)

“I think you should go,” Jaehyun says. Johnny is startled by this, and opens his mouth to protest. “Now,” Jaehyun effectively cuts off whatever he was going to say, rising to his feet. Johnny hesitates, nods, then leaves with a muttered apology.

When he hears the door shut, he breathes a sigh of relief. 

“Jaehyun?” Mark speaks hesitantly. He’s staring up at Jaehyun, big blue eyes beaming at full wattage. “Please own me.”

The request makes Jaehyun go silent. He can feel himself pale, knows he must look ghostly, because Mark flinches and ducks his head. He sees Mark’s hands shaking, he watches Mark pull his sleeves down over trembling fingers.

“Why?” Jaehyun asks, hearing a tremour in his voice. He’s not sure if it’s anger or fear.

“It’s dangerous to be without one,” Mark says, voice almost too quiet to hear. “And I trust you.”

“You’re sure?”

“Yes.” Mark looks up again. The determination in his eyes is enough to have Jaehyun look away, nodding before he can stop himself.

“Fine.”

Mark bounces in his seat and claps softly in celebration.


	3. Chapter 3

Firstly, Jaehyun has to figure out his budget. He usually just spends as he pleases; he’s never been a big splurger, and he thinks he’s fairly responsible. But just in case, he doesn’t want to have him and someone he’s now responsible for to live off of instant noodles for a month just because he messed up.

Secondly, what is he calling Mark?  _ His  _ hybrid? He owns a hybrid now? Witch philosophy is against  _ ownership _ of a living creature. Even plants are expected to enter some kind of contract, since witches who study nature can (apparently) hear what plants say. Because of Jaehyun’s intermediate status, he can’t say for sure if it’s true, or how it’s true. But he supposes he agrees in principle, and knows owning a hybrid will have bad consequences.

Which brings about the third problem. He’s not sure, so he reviews the witch code, imprinted in neat Korean lettering in the beginning of his grimoire. A set of rules, and breaking them means he’ll be put on trial.

_ By order of the Seoul Witch Association, _ it reads,  _ as of the Spiritual Beings Anti-Discrimination Act 2037, it is forbidden for a witch to own a pet or hybrid. Any breach will result in a penalty. _

A penalty is a vague notion. It can range from anywhere between being put back into lessons all the way to his grimoire burned and being excommunicated—the first is more likely, because it’d be his first offense, and the second…well, the second means he loses all legal status. Witches have a limited number of rights; meaning, they’re recognised as living creatures who can think. As far as Jaehyun knows, hybrids have no standing in court. Even the standard animal abuse charges can’t be filed, because being a hybrid is synonymous with being an object.

A familiar is possible, he decides, to drag himself away from the discomfort of thinking about a living creature’s rights. He doesn’t know if the bond of a familiar can work on a hybrid, but he’s willing to try. If it is successful, he can introduce Mark to the Witching Court, and hopefully grant Mark a status of Familiar. If  _ that _ is successful, Mark will have a status mirroring Jaehyun’s. Able to rent and work, unable to apply for the public healthcare system. A problem, but not as big as it could be.

Unfortunately, Jaehyun’s never heard of a Familiar being a hybrid. He’s heard of werewolves becoming them, and vampires have before the war between witches and vampires—which means if Jaehyun does this, successful or not, he’s setting a precedent.

So now he’s torn. Apply for a human form of ownership and hide Mark away from the witches, or apply for a Familiar and hide Mark away from humans? There is a third, and more cynical, approach: get rid of Mark. Make him move out or hand him to someone else, then just forget Mark exists. It’d be easy to do.

* * *

“I’m coming over to see Mark,” Yuta announces as he sits opposite Jaehyun in the café. Jaehyun looks up from his notes, startled at the noise.

“You are?”

“Of course,” Yuta pouts, cupping his cheeks with his hands. The sudden cute act contrasts with the skull rings on his fingers.

There’s a sharp whisper from a table nearby, and Jaehyun hears the word  _ priest _ and  _ gross _ . He hopes he misheard, but Yuta’s sharp look at them tells him he didn’t. The table fall silent, and Yuta softens his gaze when he looks at Jaehyun again.

“I want to see him to see how he’s doing,” Yuta says sagely.

Jaehyun weighs up Yuta. This is the third time they’ve met, and yet Jaehyun feels like he can trust him. Not as much as Johnny obviously, but Jaehyun would ask Yuta to watch his bag if Jaehyun needs to use the restroom.

“He asked me to own him,” Jaehyun says in a low voice, leaning towards Yuta. Yuta blinks, then nods.

“Thought he would,” he says neutrally.

“You thought he—? Why would you think that?”

“You’ve given him food and shelter. And a painless time there as well,” Yuta says off-handedly. “Dog loyalty is a matter of survival, is what I read on the internet. Basically, they  _ have _ to be because of pack mentality.” Yuta fixes Jaehyun with a strong gaze. “If you turn out to be a bastard, I’ll poison you.”

“Okay,” Jaehyun says faintly. He believes Yuta’s threat whole-heartedly. He clears his throat, straightening in his seat. “Actually, I need to talk to you about something.”

“Oh, really?” Yuta arches an eyebrow. “Here?”

“Yeah,” Jaehyun says, digging into one of his pockets and taking out what appears to be a keychain to the untrained eye. He places it on the table casually, Yuta narrowing his eyes at it.

“A charm? It’s well made.”

Jaehyun taps the plain wood carving. “It’s to hide what we’re talking about. Anyone eavesdropping will think we’re talking about something else,” he explains. “Because I want to talk about Mark.”

“All right,” Yuta says slowly. “What about him?”

“Witches aren’t allowed to own another person,” Jaehyun says bluntly. “That includes hybrids. This sounds bad, but I have no moral issue with owning Mark—the problem is, if I sign the papers, I can be excommunicated from the Witch Association. I can make him my Familiar, but a hybrid familiar has never been done before, and honestly there’ll be massive backlash.”

“What kind of backlash?”

Jaehyun shifts in his seat uncomfortably, avoiding Yuta’s eyes. “There’s a chance that if he becomes my hybrid, and the Court doesn’t approve, or if they’re petitioned...Mark will be removed as my Familiar. Which is a painful procedure.” He doesn't bother to mention the whole excommunication thing. It's not like that'll happen.

Yuta is silent for a moment. “Have you discussed this with Mark?”

“No.”

“Why not?”

“I wanted to ask you what you thought first. To see if I missed anything obvious.”

“That’s a lot of trust you’re putting on me,” Yuta muses. “If worst comes to worst, I can make him my apprentice. But that’s a long and difficult route, especially if he doesn’t know Japanese.”

Jaehyun nodded. “Does being your apprentice add anything to his standing in the human laws?”

“No.” Yuta frowns. “Why, does being a familiar…?”

“Familiars and witches are viewed pretty similarly under human law,” Jaehyun explains. “So he’d be given all the same rights as what I have, I think.”

“And there’s no difference?”

Jaehyun pauses. “Well, Mark wouldn’t be able to report any crime to the police, and in some cases he’d be more like a minor than an adult, but it’s better than being a simple hybrid.”

Yuta is again silent for a heartbeat, then sighs. “You should talk it over with Mark. I can’t think of anything to add.”

* * *

“What do I have to do as your Familiar?” Mark asks cautiously. He’s perched on the chair opposite Jaehyun, fork halfway to his mouth.

“You become my assistant, basically. Look after my herbal stocks, and help me in any spells I need. I won’t require much from you though, I don’t usually perform magic.”

“Okay,” Mark says slowly. It’s good to see Mark more at ease with him, Jaehyun thinks as he watches Mark tilt his head in thought.

"I heard from some people Familiars have special bonds."

Jaehyun rolls his eyes. "Those are rumours spread by humans," he says with obvious disdain. "To put it bluntly: witches aren't capable of that." What he doesn't mention is bonding is a dark magic thing—yes, it's in his grimoire, but it's illegal to use the spell. He was told as a child the dangers of sharing emotions, especially with those who are a different species. Most infamously, there was a case of a witch and a vampire bonding. The witch became immortal, and the vampire could cast spells.

“So,” Jaehyun says as he swallows the last of his steak, “what do you think? I’ll do whatever you decide.”

“Me, decide?” Mark blinks owlishly at Jaehyun.

“That’s why I told you this,” Jaehyun says patiently.

“I, uh.” Mark scratches the back of his neck. “I think being your Familiar...would be nice?” He shies away from Jaehyun like he expects him to explode with anger, raising an arm in defense.

“Fine,” Jaehyun agrees, “I guess we’re going to make history.”

After stacking the dishes in the sink, they clear a space on the living room and Jaehyun gestures for Mark to lie down before fetching gems from his chest of artifacts handed to him when he passed the first stage of testing. He returns to the living room to find Mark lying with wide eyes staring at the ceiling, not daring to look around.

Jaehyun doesn’t  _ need _ to speak during the forming of a Familiar bond, but he decides to anyway, in case Mark is nervous. He places one blue gem with white streaks on Mark’s forehead, and another dark-blue, intensely coloured gem on the centre of Mark’s chest.

“Kyanite,” he says, pointing at the one on Mark’s head, “meant to help quiet your mind. And lapis lazuli,” Jaehyun points to Mark’s chest, “to bring harmony in our relationship.”

Jaehyun sits cross-legged beside Mark’s head, watches Mark’s ears twitch and his eyes shift to meet Jaehyun’s.

“Do you agree to be my Familiar?”

“Yes.” Mark’s voice is strong, almost unexpectedly so; the light in his gaze glimmers with an intelligence Jaehyun can only think surpasses a human’s. He pushes that thought aside for later.

Jaehyun nods, then claps once above Mark’s head. He holds his hands there for a moment, counts to three in his head, then shrugs.

“Okay, it’s done.” He removes the stones from Mark.

Mark, clearly perplexed, is still.

“What, you think it’d be all boom and pow?” Jaehyun rolls his eyes, relaxing his posture. “It’ll take time to settle in, but once the bond is there you’ll be able to sense my general location and my distress level. That’s about the only thing that’ll change, other than you being able to do a bit of magic once I teach you.”

“Distress level?” Mark asks, sitting up and mimicking how Jaehyun sits. “What do you mean?”

“Like,” Jaehyun flaps a hand in the air, “if I’m about to get into a fight or something, you know?”

“Okay…” Mark says slowly. “Are you sure you understand this whole Familiar thing? And how do you know it’s successful?”

“I know about it in theory. Never had one before,” Jaehyun says airily. “And yes, I’m sure.” He can feel a little  _ tug _ in Mark’s direction, a sign his magic is being used in the smallest of amounts. It’s not something Mark can detect until he learns to use his own. “It’s a learned thing.”

Mark nods, ears flopping around cutely.

* * *

Jaehyun isn’t sure if it’s always been there, but all of a sudden there’s been more information on hybrids being passed around. Sometimes he overhears something humans say in a lecture as they leave, and other times it’s the blaring advertisements in between youtube videos. He’s been handed brochures outside of train stations, being promised a good time with a sly wink. He trashed the brochure, thinking he’s starting to understand the Witch Code he’s been taught.

He’s also spotted hybrids following behind their owners dutifully, with blank eyes and a fake smile. Nothing like the spark in Mark, Jaehyun thinks to himself, as he zones out of whatever Johnny is saying. He tugs on the Familiar bond, feels that is worrying Mark, then attempts to listen to what Johnny is saying.

“Anyway, I was like—dude, you aren’t listening, are you?”

“I am,” Jaehyun replies, only half paying attention to his friend.

“No, you aren’t.” Johnny sighs. “Ever since that thing with Yuta, you’ve really out of it. Did he do something?”

“Nah,” Jaehyun shrugs, taking a sip from his iced americano. “Some other things are bothering me. Personal shit and all that.”

“Right,” Johnny nods. “Stuff you can’t tell me about?”

“Yeah.”

“You tell me everything normally, though.” Jaehyun can hear the hurt in Johnny’s voice, even though Johnny tries to hide it. It’s not the first time Jaehyun is tempted to just spill and tell Johnny everything: that he’s a witch, a so-called ‘satan worshipper’, just to see how Johnny reacts.

“You saw Mark,” Jaehyun says instead. “He wants me to own him—I’ve filed the paperwork, I’m just having second thoughts, I guess.”

Johnny nods in consideration. Despite the obvious  _ prejudice _ humans seem to carry around, Johnny seems to lack any negative thoughts about hybrids. Which Jaehyun appreciates, since it means Johnny will probably try and give serious and well thought out answers to anything Jaehyun needs (since Jaehyun doesn’t know anything about...humans, really).

“He expressed an opinion,” Johnny says. “He could probably tell you’re a good person.” His feet stutter in their steps, and Johnny stumbles slightly. An unusual display of clumsiness; Johnny is more sure-footed than that, Jaehyun notes, studying his expression carefully.

“Jae,” Johnny speaks cautiously, “you don’t know a lot about hybrids, do you?”

“I don’t,” Jaehyun agrees.

“I know a place that might be able to help you,” he says. Johnny’s acting like Jaehyun will laugh in his face—which he  _ wouldn’t _ , especially since he has no idea what kind of place Johnny is alluding to.

“Mark is not going into sex work,” Jaehyun says, a lot sharper than he intended. Oh well, it got his point across.

Johnny’s mouth drops open. “I wasn’t saying that,” he protests, “I just meant I know some people who might be able to help.”

Jaehyun eyes his friend suspiciously. Mark is still safe, according to the bond, and Jaehyun can certainly look after himself if it comes down to a fight. He doesn’t think Johnny will betray him, either, since Johnny believes he’s human.

“Okay,” Jaehyun says, “I’ll go.”

Johnny visibly brightens with an expression too innocent to be hiding anything malicious. Jaehyun follows Johnny’s lead, boarding two trains and winding up in the city center, further from the university campus than Jaehyun’s been in a while. The street level is lined with businesses, and atop them are presumably apartments. Johnny weaves in the streets confidently, clearly knowing where he’s headed.

They arrive outside a store named ‘ _ Down the Rabbit Hole’ _ . Next door is a medical clinic called  _ ‘Moon’ _ , and the other side has a store called  _ ‘Dragon’ _ . Jaehyun counts the levels above the businesses, making out at least four distinct floors. So at least twelve different units, he estimates.

Johnny enters Down the Rabbit Hole, which turns out to be a bookstore. Everything is neatly stacked, with a fresh scent hovering in the air. A man pops up from behind the counter suddenly, startling Jaehyun.

“Johnny,” the man says with a smile, “you’re back.”

“Yeah,” Johnny says with a wave, “is Ten in?”

Ten what, Jaehyun wants to ask, but settles for looking around himself. Jaehyun misses the hard stare the store owner gives him, before he masks it with a smile.

“Johnny’s friend,” the man says, “what’s your name?”

Johnny disappears into the back of the store, abandoning Jaehyun.

“Jaehyun,” he says shortly. “And you are?”

“Jungwoo,” the man says, resting his arms on the counter. “Johnny’s mentioned you.”

“All good things, I hope,” Jaehyun says lightly.

“Yes,” Jungwoo agrees. He’s been nothing but pleasant to Jaehyun, but the witch can’t help but feel a pool of uneasiness settle in the pit of his stomach. He’s sure he has enough items with him to curse everyone in this building, but…

Johnny returns with a small man in tow. Not exactly small, Jaehyun amends, he just looks that way next to Johnny.

“Jaehyun,” the man calls. “I’m Ten. I want to speak to you.”

Jaehyun bristles at the tone. Johnny, having reached Jaehyun’s side, places a hand on his shoulder.

“It’s fine,” Johnny insists. “I wouldn’t put you in danger.”

“Mystery is a form of danger,” Jaehyun says, but goes with Ten anyway. He has no clue what is happening. He attempts to calm his heartbeat, in case Mark picks up on it—he doesn’t want the dog hybrid racing across the city just to get hurt in his quest to help Jaehyun.

The back room is surprisingly empty. There’s a desk with some brochures on it, and a few chairs. Ten grabs a brochure and hands it to Jaehyun expectantly. Jaehyun hesitates, remembering all the ones he received at train stations, then reluctantly takes it.

_ Hybrids are people too, _ the large font reads. Frowning, Jaehyun flips it open and skims the statistics, then looks up at Ten questioningly.

“Hybrid rights?”

“Yup,” Ten says, rocking back on his heels. “Johnny helps us from time to time.”

Not really much of an explanation. Jaehyun has no idea who they are. Obviously not supernatural, or if they are, not notable enough for any witch to worry about; Jaehyun’s never heard of such a thing. So it’s probably a human organisation. Is he being asked to join them? Even though he might not agree with their cause—even though he’s not human?

Then he remembers they don’t know he’s a witch.

“So?” Jaehyun asks. “What’s this got to do with me?”

Ten scowls. He’s not really intimidating, so all Jaehyun does is raise an eyebrow back.

“You’re a  _ hybrid owner _ ,” Ten spits out the words like it’s a slur. “Are you really going to own another living creature?”

The wording of it makes Jaehyun wonder if Ten’s a witch. Probably not, otherwise they would likely recognise each other. “He asked me to, I’ll have you know,” Jaehyun replies testily. “It’s either that or he fucking dies the next time some asshole decides to beat the shit out of him,  _ again. _ ”

This gives Ten pause, and Ten appears to reassess Jaehyun. It’s like a switch has been flicked inside Ten and the tension eases out of his body.

“All right,” Ten nods. “We’ll give you help then, information that you might need as your hybrid grows older.”

Jaehyun accepts the help, although he doesn’t really have a choice. They hand him more information packets, a couple of books, and specialised hybrid medicine. Jungwoo is friendly and Ten amicable as they direct Jaehyun across the store, Johnny watching with amusement as Jaehyun’s arms fill up.

When they ask him what species Mark’s dog genes are, Jaehyun helplessly shrugs. Ten and Jungwoo trade a look then give Jaehyun a guide to common dogs, the household pet kind, not the hybrids. 

It reminds Jaehyun of dealing with a group of witches. A superiority complex that stems from the fact Jaehyun never specialised as a witch and doesn’t give a shit about witch politics, coupled with Jaehyun’s own passiveness in his life, lead to disastrous social outings when he’s with the supernatural. It’s this same passiveness that allows Jungwoo and Ten, two complete strangers, to pull Jaehyun along in their flow and dictate a series of ideals to him that Jaehyun doesn’t have time to weigh up, before he’s pushed out the bookstore door, with Johnny right behind him.

“Let’s go home,” Johnny says.

Jaehyun nods.


	4. Chapter 4

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> italics in the speech bubbles means they're speaking english. (you'll see it when you come across it (hopefully))

Yuta ruffles Mark’s hair, being mindful of the ears. He then pulls it down to test the length, working his way around Mark’s scalp to familiarise himself with the area. At least, that’s what Jaehyun thinks is happening as he watches them from the doorway, Mark occasionally shooting Jaehyun a look seeking reassurance. Jaehyun does his best to arrange his face into something promoting trust. It seems to work, if Mark’s little smile is anything to go by.

“Okay,” Yuta says, “I’ll just trim it, right?”

“Yeah,” Mark squeaks. He watches with wide eyes as Yuta picks up the scissors lying on the basin, then glances at Jaehyun again. Jaehyun nods and smiles.

Yuta works quickly and efficiently, with nimble fingers that seem to contrast with his appearance—a thought full of judgement Jaehyun carefully suppresses to destroy later. Of course Yuta can be gentle. His tattoos mean jack shit.

Mark sits still as hair falls to the floor, and Yuta ruffles his hair to remove any loose strands. Jaehyun ends up idly scrolling through his social media feed, wondering vaguely how Mark sits. He has a tail that he still doesn’t let out of his trouser leg, and he also refuses to wear the hybrid trousers Jaehyun bought for him to let his tail out. Jaehyun saw diagrams of how the hybrid tail is, located where a human’s tailbone is. Surely it’s uncomfortable? But Jaehyun doesn’t want to force Mark into anything he doesn’t want.

“All done,” Yuta announces, interrupting Jaehyun’s spinning thoughts. “Mark, are you happy with it?”

Mark squints in the reflection, then nods. “Thank you, sir.” Yuta frowns, opening his mouth to say something. “I mean, Yuta,” Mark corrects himself before Yuta can say anything. Yuta relaxes, glancing at Jaehyun, who is watching the exchange take place. Yuta widens his eyes and glances at Mark, then back to Jaehyun when he raises an eyebrow. Jaehyun just smiles sheepishly and shrugs.

The towel around Mark is carefully removed and Mark stands, grabbing the stool and leaving the room with it, brushing past Jaehyun. Yuta begins sweeping the hair into a plastic bag.

“Has he done that before?” Yuta asks quietly.

“No,” Jaehyun says, matching Yuta’s volume. Yuta clicks his tongue.

“You’ll stop the habit?”

“Of course.” Jaehyun can read from Yuta’s facial expression that the miko thinks Jaehyun’s reinforcing a hierarchy. The distrust hurts, but not as much as Johnny’s accusation. He has to remind himself that he and Yuta don’t  _ actually _ know each other that well.

Mark returns, unsuspecting that he’s the topic of their conversation, and helps Yuta finish cleaning up.

* * *

Yuta still hasn’t dropped the issue of Mark accidentally saying sir. On the same day, he hears Mark slip and call Jaehyun master, which Jaehyun sighs at and Mark stutters out an apology. Jaehyun just smiles and holds out a hand to pat Mark’s head, which Mark enjoys gratefully.

Yuta glares daggers at Jaehyun’s profile as they sit side by side on the back porch of Jaehyun’s flat. There’s a good distance between the two.

“Surely he shouldn’t be slipping up this much,” Yuta hisses. His tone is sharp and aggressive, but his body language is one of calm. Jaehyun mimics the pretense, in case Mark looks over and sees them fighting. Right now, the hybrid is climbing a tree.

“He’s been trained his whole life like this,” Jaehyun shoots back, annoyed. It’s not often that he ends up on the defensive, used to be fairly passive, but something about Yuta heightens Jaehyun’s emotions. In this case, it’s for the worse.

“If that’s the way it is, then just order him not to,” Yuta argues.

“I did! He’s doing his best. I’m not pressing the matter with him, not when there’s other shit going on.”

“Like what,” Yuta says, voice grating. The temperature around the two drops, and Jaehyun shivers. He thinks it’s fear—Yuta certainly is intimidating in this moment, with flashing eyes and a magical force threatening Jaehyun’s weaker aura.

“Nightmares,” Jaehyun says simply. Yuta snorts, but doesn’t continue, looking away. Jaehyun takes that as a win, glad he doesn’t have to go into more detail. He doesn’t want to describe how Mark flinches when Jaehyun comes close, and he doesn’t want to explain why Mark also follows Jaehyun but never leads, even when he clearly wants to race ahead on the street.

When Mark falls out of the tree, Jaehyun goes to pick him up, brush him off, and offer comfort.

* * *

Mark isn’t confident enough to fill out his own forms, so Jaehyun writes down the information for him. The hybrid is reluctant to offer information, something Jaehyun can empathise with, and thankfully the documentation doesn’t require a detailed timeline of events.

“Place of origin,” Jaehyun reads, looking inquiringly at Mark. Mark squirms in his seat uncomfortably.

“Uh, country?”

“And city,” Jaehyun confirms. “The next question asks for a handler or breeder as well.”

“Toronto, Canada,” Mark answers, his voice dropping into a whisper. Jaehyun simply nods and writes that down. He can sense Mark hesitate, and Jaehyun waits for Mark to build up the courage to say whatever is bothering him.

“Are you not surprised?” Mark ventures.

“Not really. Mark isn’t really a typical Korean name, is it,” Jaehyun raises an eyebrow, to which Mark giggles nervously. “Although you don’t exactly look like a Mark.”

“My parents were moved to Canada,” Mark explains. So hybrid immigration is a thing, Jaehyun notes. “The Korean name my parents gave me is Minhyung, but it’s not official.” He seems sad to say that, so Jaehyun decides to move the topic along.

“But Canada...so you speak English?”

“Yes…”

“Cool.  _ So do I _ ,” Jaehyun answers in English, easily switching. Mark’s eyes widen adorably, and this time Jaehyun has to clench his fists to resist pinching his cheeks.

“Really?” Mark is practically bouncing in his seat with excitement. “ _ That’s a  _ relief _ —you don’t mind, do you, if I like, _ answer you in  _ English _ ?”

“I don’t mind,” Jaehyun says in what he hopes sounds reassuring. Apparently it does, because Mark is now vibrating at a speed that makes Jaehyun worried about his health. “But, um,  _ my English is kind of... _ rusty.”

“Oh, that’s fine,” Mark brushes off. “How did you learn English, by the way?”

“I lived there as a child,” he explains. “In the  _ New England _ area, mostly  _ Connecticut. _ ”

“ _ Oh, the States? My second owner actually lived there for a bit, so I got to see some cool things there. Can I ask why you were…?” _

“You know you can ask anything,” Jaehyun laughs into his fist at Mark’s eagerness. “I really don’t mind. Anyway, I was there to study about witches, since there are way more in the West. A part of my schooling was there.” He stops himself from talking any further, then taps the papers with his pen. “We should really finish this, though. Then we can reminisce more.”

“Okay,” Mark chirps, “what’s the next question?”

“Your last owner,” Jaehyun says. Mark visibly deflates, back to being nervous.

“As in...my legal one?”

“Yeah,” Jaehyun nods. “I think they’ll call to check your records, or something.”

Mark licks his lips. “I, uh. My last legal owner was called Han Donghyun, but I don’t know anything about him.”

Jaehyun bites back any anger he feels at the idea of Mark being owned by anyone else. “Is he the one who-”

“No,” Mark interrupts, then he slaps a hand over his mouth in shock at his outburst. Jaehyun softens his gaze, waiting for Mark to recover. “No,” the hybrid says, sounding breathless. “He lost me when he was gambling. But he didn’t have the documents with him, so I was illegally owned, I guess you could say.”

Jaehyun bites his lip, Mark waiting for his response like he just admitted to trying to kill Jaehyun in his sleep. (And if Mark did, Jaehyun isn’t sure he’d be angry—Mark is just  _ too cute. _ ) He tries to ease the tension in his shoulders with limited success.

“So how did you make it to South Korea, then?”

“I was brought in, uh, illegally.” Mark twists his fingers together. Jaehyun guesses whoever smuggled Mark in were responsible for how Jaehyun found him, either directly or indirectly. If Jaehyun ever meets them, he’ll show them the rage of a witch  _ and _ an amateur boxer, wrapped into one package.

Jaehyun puts down the pen he forgot he was holding. He bites his lip, then shrugs. “I have no idea what to do,” he admits. “I wouldn’t mind forging papers or something. I don’t know any spells that’d help—” he cuts himself off.

“M- Jaehyun?” Mark’s fingers are turning white from the tension he’s putting them through. Jaehyun doesn't know if it’s his place to reach over and massage them for him, so he resists.

“Do you remember what the papers look like?”

“Yes,” Mark nods. “I have them memorised.”

Jaehyun blinks, surprised. “Is that normal?”

“It’s a hybrid’s only way of attaching any value to their life,” he says, unexpectedly contemptuous of his situation. Well, Jaehyun thinks, a whole species is bound to be aware of his circumstance. Witches are the same.

“All right,” Jaehyun says. “I’ll print off a copy of the forms. The Canadian ones, right?”

“Yes,” Mark confirms. “From the breeders. But what are you going to do with it?”

“You’ll fill it out. I’ll do some magic, and bam! I should be able to get it processed.”

Mark looks uncertain. “Does magic work like that?”

Jaehyun grins. “Have you seen the show Doctor Who?”

“No?”

“The Doctor carries a blank piece of paper that shows people whatever ID they need to see. It makes more sense in the show,” he explains, sensing Mark’s confusion. “Anyway, it works kind of like that. We should watch it together, it’s classic from like half a century ago.”

He finds the forms online, with the help of Mark. Apparently Canada had a more complex set than elsewhere, something to do with stopping fraud. Jaehyun can appreciate it, but he still doesn’t like the amount of ink his printer goes through. He hands the papers to Mark, as well as extra copies in case Mark wants to practice or messes up. As the hybrid works on that, Jaehyun messages Yuta.

**[11:09] to: yuta** **  
** hey i need to ask a favour

**[11:11] from: yuta**   
11:11 make a wish   
ok whats the favour

**[11:11] to: yuta**   
now don't panic when i tell u   
but i would like some of ur blood for a spell

**[11:13] from:yuta**   
whats the spell

**[11:13] to: yuta**   
mark needs some paperwork   
and i’ll need to make sure it goes thru and that means a spell to trick the administration, basically

**[11:21] from: yuta**   
i cant do that   
why me?

**[11:22] to: yuta**   
religious folk who have magical roots amplify spells   
their blood is one of the best

**[11:28] from: yuta**   
i cant do it

Jaehyun blinks at the response. Yuta’s seemed so eager to help Mark so far; maybe he’s squeamish? Maybe it’s a miko thing?

**[11:29] from: yuta**   
i have to tell you something   
its nothing too big but its prob better i do it in person   
are you free now?

**[11:31] to: yuta**   
yeah im free now   
come over any time

* * *

Yuta isn’t smiling when he walks into the house without knocking, feet loudly stomping to where Jaehyun and Mark were sitting at the dining table. Jaehyun doesn’t mind the sudden intrusion, but Mark’s head snaps up and his eyes narrow. When he sees it’s Yuta, he seems to calm and look back down to the forms. (The witch makes a mental note to ask about this later. Maybe it’s a territorial thing?)

“Hey,” Jaehyun says, doing his best to sound casual.

“Hi,” Yuta says shortly, not even greeting Mark with his usual high-pitched coos. Jaehyun is starting to think he really did cross a line, but he has no clue what.

“I need to tell you something,” Yuta all but spits out. His tone is abrasive enough that Mark drops his pen and it clatters loudly in the following silence.

“Okay,” Jaehyun says slowly, keeping his hands on the desk. Yuta tugs on a dangling earring, then runs a hand through his loose red hair. Jaehyun watches his adam’s apple bob as he gulps, then he gestures to the seat next to him. “You can sit if you want.”

Yuta doesn’t move. He hovers near the doorway as if he’ll need to make a run for it.

“I’m not human,” Yuta says.

Jaehyun blinks. “Bro, same.”

“No, you don’t understand.” Jaehyun feels the temperature of the room drop with each word Yuta says. Mark bites his lip, eyes darting around the room, ears drooping more than usual.

“What don’t I understand?” Jaehyun is calm, in sharp contrast to Yuta’s clear agitation. The witch doesn’t want to channel any aggression to Mark, who already seems on edge by Yuta’s hostility. He moves to stand, but when Yuta’s jaw tenses, the witch sits back down.

Yuta says something in Japanese. Jaehyun waits patiently for Yuta to recover. Yuta begins pacing, and Mark crouches in his seat.

“Do you know what a yuki-onna is?” Yuta asks abruptly, returning to his place by the doorway.

“No.”

“It translates to snow woman,” Yuta speaks through gritted teeth. “One of my ancestors is a yōkai, which is a class of Japanese spirits and monsters and things like that.” Yuta takes a deep breath to steady himself. “I’m not a miko.”

“Right,” Jaehyun says slowly. He can feel Mark watching for his reaction. He feels his face shutter down into an expressionless mask, which evidently doesn’t help matters, judging by the way the other two flinch.

“I don’t care about that,” Jaehyun says.

Yuta flinches. “Why not? I lied.”

Jaehyun shrugs. “You think I care? Anyway, I’m parading around pretending to be a human. Vampires and werewolves do the same. I found out a secret of Johnny’s recently too.”

“But-”

“We all have our reasons.” Jaehyun is firm on the issue. “Thanks for telling me. I was about to make lunch, you want some?”

His offer popped the bubble of anxiety in Yuta, who pulled out a chair beside Mark and flopped into it. “Yeah, sure.” Yuta eyes Jaehyun. “Also don’t call me bro.”

Jaehyun flashes the ok sign at him, making Yuta snort. This sends a silent signal to Mark, apparently, since the hybrid picks up his pen again and continues filling in the information. Jaehyun moves into the kitchen to begin preparing, eavesdropping on their conversation.

“Is that your handwriting?” Yuta asks. Jaehyun hears a tap, assumes Yuta tapped the forms Mark’s filling out.

“Kind of?” Mark tries. “The people who tested me wrote like this.”

There’s a moment of quiet. Jaehyun fills a pot with water and puts it on the stove, listening to the ignitor in the gas stove tick away before catching fire.

“You forge people’s writing?” Yuta sounds shocked. Jaehyun felt the same way when he first saw it.

“I’ve practiced,” Mark mumbles. Handy for their purposes right now, Jaehyun thinks as he cuts up vegetables.

“And you remember what they said,” Yuta muses. The rustling of paper means he’s going through the forms, Jaehyun guesses. “A lot of work, though. Annoying. Why’d you bother remembering this?”

“Just in case.” This time it’s Mark’s turn to reply to something shortly. Yuta picks up on it and moves on immediately.

“Jaehyun’s really going to have to work magic, though. If the original papers show up…”

“Jaehyun is good at magic.”

“You’ve seen him use it?”

There’s more quiet. Mark probably nodded; it’s not a lie, he’s seen Jaehyun create the Familiar bond (which Mark has now confirmed he can sense). He also saw Jaehyun set up a ward to keep termites out. Mark mentioned that when Jaehyun wasn’t home, he sometimes watches insects approach the ward then turn around as if possessed. Otherwise, he hasn’t seen anything flashy. The only real kind of flashy magic is attack magic—forbidden, and the kind Jaehyun hasn’t used in years.

* * *

Jaehyun is sitting in the middle of a stack of books. His chest of witchcraft is open, a gift from his grandmother for passing his third testing. This one, unlike his chest of artifacts, has triple the capacity for storage than it’s fairly large size would have you believe. A bit like Hermione's purse, Jaehyun thinks. He dislikes Harry Potter for the misrepresentation.

The charm Jaehyun intended to make with Yuta’s blood doesn’t  _ require  _ it, but he’s worried about potency. He goes through his old notes again to look for a substitute.

_ A vampire’s blood is more potent than those who worship the god/s _ , Jaehyun reads. In his own immature penmanship, he sees a  _ good luck getting that _ . He agrees with his past self. He only knows one vampire, and he’s never met him. He bites his lip in thought.

A few pages onwards, he reads,  _ vampires crave witch blood, as a witch’s blood increases the bond between a vampire and their offspring. It also grants them more power. _ Well, he knew that already. It’s common knowledge that a witch’s blood is precious especially to their fellow supernatural beings.

Does he really need to meet a vampire? But the charm Jaehyun is actually able to make lasts for about a week at best. If he considers the bureaucracy at play, he figures it’ll take about a month to process the documents Jaehyun’s going to send. With a vampire’s, it easily raises to about a year. That’s enough time for Jaehyun. (If it isn’t, he’ll throw money at the problem or make a new one.)

He knows where to find a vampire. It’s easy—head to a certain part of town and one of them will confront him. He just has to bring a gift, say he’s there to meet their leader, and it should be fine. He’ll have to check on vampire etiquette though. He has a book on that somewhere...inside his chest, which is sitting next to him innocently. He sighs, and resumes digging for information.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> i originally planned for this to be around 5 chapters, but there's no way i'm going to wrap this up next chapter. it'll probably take...10? minimum?


	5. Chapter 5

The area where vampires lurk is known colloquially as the yellow district, named to mock what the humans call the red district. It was named as such because of traffic lights, according to the rumours. Jaehyun has no idea if that’s true. Unlike the red district, there is very little actual sex-oriented marketing that takes place.

At night, the area comes alive with various life, mostly made of the supernatural (save for the witches and werewolves). It's known for the nightlife, and a common enough place to visit for those with taboo love—Jaehyun has seen same sex couples frequent these places, as the yellow district promotes secrecy above all else.

When Jaehyun steps into the district, he can sense a ripple go through the night air. Vampires have their own territory, much like werewolves, and Jaehyun's presence is breaking an unspoken rule. This is what he intends, so he proceeds to walk down a street lined with bars and clubs. He's distinctly out of place, with his casual attire of pastels and jeans running counter to the scandalous clothing of the throngs of people around him.

Soon enough, a hand lands on Jaehyun's shoulder and he's spun, turns 180 and looks to meet the eyes of a taller man with red eyes. A vampire, Jaehyun thinks. Judging by the way his irises are circled with blue, he's still young. A fledging, probably turned a few years ago, and no younger than that as the fledging isn’t on an out of control rampage for blood.

"Mister Witch," the vampire says politely. "Please come with me. The master wants to see you."

This is new. Jaehyun had, just in case, made wards and charms to protect himself. If this night ends in a meeting that's fairly peaceful, he'll have dug through his grimoire for nothing.

"Lead the way," Jaehyun says.

The vampire walks beside Jaehyun instead of leading the way, this changing only when they cut down a narrow alley and it becomes impractical for the vampire to attempt to walk beside Jaehyun. They turn left down another alley, then the vampire knocks on a door.

"Sungchan," a voice calls. "Come in."

The room is small and dimly lit by a single bulb hanging from the ceiling. There's a round wooden table in the center, with six chairs around it. A man sits at one, facing the door. When the pair step in and Sungchan steps aside to be by the door, Jaehyun sees burning red eyes.

"I am Jaehyun, witch of Seoul," Jaehyun introduces himself, not yet crossing the threshold. "May I enter?"

"I am Taeyong, vampire of Seoul." The man seems to appreciate Jaehyun's attention to vampire etiquette, if the twitch of his lips is indicative of anything. "You may enter."

Jaehyun steps across the threshold, nervous energy pooling in his gut. He ducks his head in a bow, not too deep, hoping he's disguising it.

Taeyong gestures to a chair opposite him, and Jaehyun sits. He senses a rustling behind him, and then a clattering. He glances, to see Sungchan preparing two teacups at a table that was out of sight from the door.

"Tea?" Taeyong asks.

"Yes please," Jaehyun says, knowing better than to refuse.

The tea is placed in front of him, another cup in front of Taeyong. Neither move for a second. 

"What brings you here?" Taeyong asks.

"I've come to request a favour."

The words make Taeyong's eyes spark. Jaehyun knows what these words mean—to a vampire, it's permission for them to ask anything in return. Most likely blood, he knows his is precious. But money can be exploited, or he can be put into servitude; all of which he doesn't mind, if it means furthering Mark's life. 

This debt is the reason why Jaehyun came  _ here _ and not elsewhere. Taeyong is one of the most famous vampires in South Korea, known for being one of the few who never went on a killing rampage, even in his first year as a vampire. This self control shows even now, with Taeyong's fangs hidden away and displaying nothing but courtesy to the witch who has invaded his territory.

"What favour is this?" Something tells Jaehyun that Taeyong already knows.

"I would like to request some vampiric blood."

"For what, witch?"

Jaehyun closes his eyes for a moment, gathering himself. "I have begun adopting a hybrid," he says carefully, "and the papers are not official. I will make a charm to trick those who look at the papers, and I need to boost its potency."

"Potency," Taeyong echoes. "I'm familiar with witchcraft. I know of what you mean." Taeyong looks at Sungchan, who stands by the door. A look of contemplation overcomes the vampire. "I will agree to this—but not mine. I will break the spell, your witchery is not adequate enough to handle my blood. Instead, you will use Sungchan's."

Which is more than enough for Jaehyun, who nods. Then he waits for Taeyong to decide the price.

"I do not need your blood," Taeyong says finally. "I have a hybrid for that."

Jaehyun's heart stops at the implication. Of course, Taeyong is open minded, but there's always a flaw in men, regardless of subspecies. A bitter taste floods his mouth. Taeyong notices the tightening of Jaehyun's lips and laughs. 

"Witch," Taeyong says, "a hybrid can satisfy a vampire in the same way as any witch."

A lustful demon, Jaehyun thinks of Taeyong, schooling his expression. "Then may I ask what you request from me?"

"Servitude," Taeyong replies. "Or rather—you'll be my student."

Jaehyun frowns. "I'm not sure I follow."

"You know you haven't found your specialty area," Taeyong chides him. "It's rare for a man like yourself to not have one—and I know it's forbidden for you to own a hybrid, however much you dress the issue up." Taeyong's words gut Jaehyun in his place, but the witch tries to show no emotion as the vampire continues. "I've been wanting to experiment a little. A little strange, I know, and no other vampire would ever approve—but don't you want to see if a witch  _ can _ pick up the tricks of a vampire?"

"Vampire magic is classified as dark magic to witches. It's illegal." Jaehyun’s response is immediate.

"So is your hybrid, so is this deal. I'm afraid that boat has sailed." Taeyong sits forward and steeples his fingers, his elbows on the table. “Do we have a deal?”

Jaehyun is forced to weigh it up in his head. It’s bad enough that he’s seeking to  _ own _ a hybrid Taeyong is right in asserting he’s dressing the issue up; making Mark a Familiar is like giving a dog poisonous fangs. It’s an upgrade, but not much of one in the long run.

But to add on the meddling of dark magic...Jaehyun knows for certain the minimum punishment for that is having magic suppressed forcefully through the use of hexes, essentially making a witch human in all the ways that count. At worst, it’s excommunication and a grimoire burning  _ and _ the magic suppression, all of which would rob Jaehyun of everything.

But then he thinks of Mark, and he thinks if he doesn’t do this, he’ll be picking the laws over his morals. And besides which, the punishment only stands if he’s caught and if they can prove it.

So he agrees to the deal.

* * *

“Welcome home,” Mark calls out when Jaehyun steps into the house. When Jaehyun enters the living room, Mark bounces on the couch a few times, then jumps off and runs towards Jaehyun, stopping just shy of bumping into him.

“Hey,” Jaehyun says back, breaking into a smile unwittingly. “Can I pat you?”

“Yep,” Mark says. When Jaehyun holds out his hand palm down, Mark bumps his head against it. Jaehyun scratches his ears, much like how he’s done so for the dogs around the neighbourhood. Mark seems to enjoy it, tail wagging.

Wait, tail wagging? Jaehyun does a double take and confirms that yes, Mark is wagging his tail, and his tail is out through the tailored hole in the back of his trousers, meant for hybrids. A sense of joy rushes through Jaehyun, for the first time seeing it and the idea that maybe Mark is opening up to him and trusting him.

“I smell blood, by the way, but it’s not yours,” Mark chirps.

Jaehyun doesn’t pause in his scratching as he hums a confirmation.

“What is it? It doesn’t smell human.”

“Oh.” Jaehyun’s only half paying attention to what Mark is saying, too busy watching the tail wag. “A vampire’s, for the spell I’m using.”

“The charm, you mean? Is that why you’re late coming back?”

“Oh yeah, sorry. I didn’t tell you, I forgot.”

“It’s fine, I knew you weren’t in danger.” Mark’s doing his best to hide his hurt. His tail stops moving momentarily, then resumes again. “Although you seemed a little nervous, and then you thought a lot.”

Jaehyun stops, pulling away. He looks at Mark curiously, who’s staring back (clearly wondering why Jaehyun stopped). “You could tell that?” He asks cautiously.

“Yes?” Mark tilts his head.

“Okay…” Jaehyun hesitates. This shouldn’t happen, as far as he knows. That kind of in-depth connection is strange—but then again, maybe he’d know it if he ever entered advanced studies. “You didn’t do anything wrong, don’t worry.”

This assuages any nervousness Mark was experiencing apparently, as his tail starts moving again.

* * *

The charm is made and the papers are sent off the next day. Sungchan’s blood is surprisingly powerful. Jaehyun guesses it’s because he’s Taeyong’s, and that the vampire inheritance works like that. When Mark asks how the charm works, Jaehyun explains as best he can—the method he follows, then how he activates it by dripping blood onto it and leaving the charm near an open window.

Mark looks confused by it but doesn’t press any further. Jaehyun isn’t sure how it works either, in all honesty; magic just has a way of flowing, and that gets enough of it done.

Yuta stops by and asks about how it’s all going. He does so with a smile, as if his confession and freak out never happened, something which Jaehyun is more than willing to conform to.

“I made the charm,” Jaehyun says with a nod.

“So that was the magic I could feel,” Yuta nods back.

“You can feel magic?” Mark frowns.

“It’s hard to explain. Like a sixth sense?” Jaehyun struggles to vocalise it. “It’s a bit like our Familiar bond. You just know how to use it, but you don’t really have to struggle. Magic in its rawest form is just...natural.”

“So then why do you need charms?”

“To guide the magic, essentially. Others don’t need it though, right?” Jaehyun turns to Yuta.

“That’s right,” is all Yuta replies with. It’s not like Mark needs the extra information, but it’ll be handy in case Mark ends up encountering other less friendly forces.

There’s a tap at the door. Mark’s ears perk up and he sniffs the air suspiciously.

“Not a human,” he decides, “he smells like the blood you used.”

So it’s a vampire? Jaehyun didn’t think his lessons would start so soon, as it has been left to Taeyong to choose—and given how long Taeyong has been alive for, this may mean Jaehyun has to wait ten years just to be remembered by him again.

Jaehyun answers the door. Sungchan is waiting with his hands clasped behind his back, and he straightens himself when Jaehyun opens the door.

“Hello,” Sungchan says. “The Master has sent me to meet your hybrid.”

Jaehyun hesitates. “Why?”

“I do not know why.”

“Okay…” Jaehyun steps back. “Sungchan, you may enter.”

Sungchan steps inside the house, following Jaehyun. The vampire closes the door behind himself then moves silently into the living room where Mark and Yuta are. He looks surprised to see Yuta, nodding once at the man before focusing on Mark.

Jaehyun then remembers he hasn’t told anyone he’s technically a vampire’s student now. Truthfully, he isn’t sure if he should tell—he quickly decides against it, thinking it’ll be better if less people know about it. There’s no way of knowing if Yuta will accept the presence of dark magic, and Mark shouldn’t be told in case this all leads to an interrogation from the Witches Council.

“I am Sungchan,” the vampire introduces himself.

“A vampire?” Mark asks, looking between the two. 

“Yes,” Sungchan confirms.

“Tea?” Jaehyun asks Sungchan.

“No thank you,” the vampire says, sitting on the couch at the opposite end to Mark. Yuta sits in an armchair near Mark, and Jaehyun takes another opposite him (and closer to Sungchan). "I'm simply here to learn Mark's presence. A bit like scenting."

"So you did get vampire blood for the charm," Yuta says bluntly. If Jaehyun is so inclined, he'd say it's something like respect shining in his eyes. Jaehyun puffs up under his gaze.

"I did," Jaehyun confirms.

"What was the price?"

"Some blood in exchange," Jaehyun lies easily. “I’d prepared some beforehand.” Sungchan nods when Yuta glances at him, lying for Jaehyun without batting an eyelid. Jaehyun thanks the stars for that. Mark doesn’t seem to detect the lie either.

“And it was Taeyong’s?” Jaehyun doesn’t remember telling Yuta who he went to, but he supposes he’s probably guessed from Sungchan’s arrival.

“It was mine,” Sungchan chimes in. “Master’s is too strong for most witches to handle.”

“All right,” Yuta says slowly. “So what has Mark got to do with it?”

“He’s now falling under Taeyong’s protection,” Sungchan answers. Jaehyun didn’t know that, and he rubs his lips with an index finger as he thinks that over.

“All right,” Yuta repeats. This time he sounds displeased. Jaehyun silently agrees with the emotion—vampires, as territorial as werewolves, laying claim to a hybrid? Jaehyun needs to act quickly; a pressure pushes down on the back of his neck, a silent urging to  _ do something _ to keep Mark away from the politics of the underground supernaturals. He locks eyes with Yuta. Neither of them really know what to do about it, that much Jaehyun does know, but if they don’t…

It dawns on Sungchan that he’s said too much, based on how he suddenly stands and looks more pale than he usually does. “I must leave,” he excuses himself, Mark mumbling a  _ bye _ as the vampire leaves just as suddenly as he came.

“We should contact werewolves,” Yuta says. “Just to make both sides hesitate.”

“I agree,” Jaehyun mutters.

“What do you mean? Is this about Taeyong wanting to protect me?” Mark is swinging his legs. Jaehyun wishes it was as simple as Mark seems to think it is.

“Vampires are possessive,” he explains. “Like werewolves, they have their own territories. It’s true that Taeyong is looking after you, and I don’t think he’ll do anything to harm you. But he might take you and do whatever—remember, they have completely different morals.” 

“I fucking hate werewolves,” Yuta complains. “They’re so annoying with their whole  _ I’m not a dog _ thing.”

“Do they hate dogs?” Mark curls up into a ball on the couch, chin propped on his knees. Jaehyun doesn’t coo (yet), but he moves to sit by him and wraps Mark in a hug.

“Nah, they just didn’t want to be mistaken for hybrids. Of course they aren’t, but they’re narrow-minded fucks who don’t get the rest of us aren’t stupid,” Yuta says bitterly. Jaehyun supposes Yuta’s had bad experiences, and the display of anger is accompanied by a sudden drop in temperature. Jaehyun tugs the hybrid closer.

“I’ll go meet with them,” the witch says diplomatically. “I know a spell that requires werewolf spit, and I can make up a story. So neither of you don’t have to worry.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> i keep changing the summary of this work bc i'm never satisfied;;;;; eh whatever, i'll settle on something lol. until then we'll all suffer
> 
> it's time for me to [link my twt](https://twitter.com/valentinehoax)


	6. Chapter 6

The spell in question is one that involves werewolf fur. Specifically, it’s a potion to aid healing. He tells them both he’ll simply say Mark has a chronic illness that needs healing, and only this potion can cure it. Not a lie, but not entirely truthful.

When Yuta approves, Jaehyun sets about making the first portion of it. He cooks it all in a pot with the two watching him. Mark sniffs it, then proclaims it to smell and look disgusting.

“It’s for healing, not for eating,” Jaehyun explains. He sets the potion aside in a pot, leaving it on the stove. When Yuta asks if he’s meant to do that, Jaehyun just shrugs. There’s no proper way of keeping things like this; he knows of witches who have let theirs grow mold, then just scrap that away and continue with what they have. His mother puts things in the fridge, and his father used old mugs and left them in his bedroom. Jaehyun doesn’t really have a system, given how rare it was for him to use magic.

“Do I have an illness?” Mark asks.

“No,” Jaehyun reassures. “That part’s a lie.”

Mark beams widely at Jaehyun’s words.

* * *

Jaehyun decides to set out when the moon is waning. He’d skipped a few nights due to the full moon, and he isn’t one to desire getting mauled by a pack of angry wolves.

Sungchan had stopped by earlier, and Jaehyun had asked the young vampire which werewolf pack he should approach. Sungchan told him to head to the southern part of the city, where he’d be stopped by a werewolf, much like how Sungchan had stopped him.

True to Sungchan’s word, Jaehyun had only been walking a few feet into the werewolves’ territory when he’s stopped by a young man with a wide smile.

“Hey there,” he says, “I’m Yangyang—a werewolf, as you might’ve guessed.” Despite the friendly nature, there’s too many teeth on display and a dimness in his gaze that makes Jaehyun feel small.

“I’m Jaehyun, a witch,” he replies anyway, smiling back slightly.

“Cool,” Yangyang claps a hand on his shoulder. His nails dig into Jaehyun’s flesh. “Come with me.”

Jaehyun nods, although he has no say in the matter. He’s pulled along the main street, then down a side street. Yangyang stops in front of a large house, kicks open the front door (which remains on its hinges, surprisingly) and drags Jaehyun inside. He’s then shoved into a living room that’s crammed full of furniture, including but not limited to several worn couches and tables overloaded with ornaments and books.

“Oh, is this the intruder?” A man is sitting on one of the couches. He’s overly tall—but a second look tells Jaehyun the man is actually perched on a pile of cushions.

Yangyang, who’s standing in the doorway, grins wider. “Yep, this is Jaehyun, a little witchy boy.”

“Hello,” Jaehyun says nervously, but the man ignores him. This man, with bright blue hair and weighed down in jewellery, inspects the rings on his fingers with great interest. When he finally looks up, Jaehyun is relieved to see a normal human brown, instead of the burning amber the  _ untamed _ wolves had.

“My name is Qian Kun,” the man says. There’s a smeared streak on his cheekbone, freshly wet and bright red, sparkling under the sharp glow of the yellow lighting inside the house.

From what Jaehyun has been to find on werewolf etiquette, he’s meant to wait until this man, Qian Kun, asks him directly. Jaehyun finds himself hoping he never does.

“You’re a witch.” Qian Kun studies Jaehyun with overly sharp eyes. “Not a very good one.”

“He didn’t try to fight me on the way here,” Yangyang chirps, “he didn’t even squeal when I grabbed him. By the way, Kun- _ ge _ , you have blood on your face.”

Qian Kun, or Kun- _ ge, _ hops off the couch and lands solidly on the floor, his gaze never moving from Jaehyun. The witch keeps his eyes on the ground, then flinches when Kun- _ ge _ ’s leather boots come into his line of sight.

Actually, Jaehyun has no idea what to call Qian Kun. Sungchan referred to him as Qian Kun, and Yangyang called him Kun- _ ge _ . Neither of which are any clue as to how Jaehyun should refer to him as, and there’s too little information on werewolf etiquette for Jaehyun to make a solid guess.

A hand roughly grabs Jaehyun’s jaw, forcing his head upwards, and Jaehyun’s surprised expression is met with Qian Kun’s blank one. Jaehyun swallows thickly, resisting the urge to run away.

“Why are you here?” The words are said coldly.

“I request werewolf fur,” Jaehyun replies. By some miracle, he manages to speak without stuttering.

“For?”

“A potion.” The hand on his jaw tightens, and Jaehyun flexes his jaw to try and move against the pressure. “I have a sick hybrid, and the potion is to heal him.”

“Yangyang?” Qian Kun’s eyes flicker with something Jaehyun hopes is positive. “Do we have any fur lying around?”

“I have some of mine,” Yangyang says brightly. “He can have that.”

“No.” Qian Kun’s voice is flat, and Jaehyun closes his eyes when Qian Kun shakes him viciously. “We don’t know if this witch is truthful. Werewolf fur can be used for anything.” Another shake, and Jaehyun can feel his teeth rattle. “He smells of beagle, but he also smells of  _ vampire. _ Taeyong and his ilk.”

_ Fuck. _ Jaehyun feels panic rise in his throat. He underestimated a werewolf’s sense of smell—and his shoes are unwashed, the same ones he wore to see Taeyong.

“Who else is in the house?” Qian Kun has now grabbed Jaehyun by the throat, fingers pressing down but not cutting off his airway yet.

“Dejun, Ten, and Kunhang. Yukhei and Sicheng are at another house,” Yangyang recites.

Qian Kun hisses out air, then deeply inhales. When he blows out air, Jaehyun feels static spark across his bare skin. Heavy footsteps sound from deep inside the house, and what sounds like a stampede come tumbling down the stairs and explode into the living room.

“We’re here,” one voice chirps, belonging to a man with long brown hair. Another trails after him, wearing thick glasses and a yellow beanie. The third man to enter is Ten, whose eyes widen in shock when he sees Jaehyun.

“You’re Johnny’s friend,” Ten says.

Qian Kun’s grip tightens. When Jaehyun splutters for air, the grip is lessened. Qian Kun turns to the newcomers, dragging Jaehyun down like a ragdoll so he’s kneeling, looking up at the side profile of Qian Kun. The rings on his fingers cut uncomfortably into Jaehyun’s skin, but he knows better than to complain.

"You know him?" Qian Kun addresses Ten directly.

“Yeah,” Ten says, “he stopped by with Johnny at the bookstore. He owns a hybrid, and basically knew jack shit about how to look after another human being.”

Qian Kun glances down at Jaehyun contemplatively. “I don’t trust witches.”

“What does he want?” The long brown-haired one asks.

“Werewolf fur. For a healing potion.” This time it’s Yangyang who provides the information.

“That’s a powerful potion,” The long brown-haired one says, surprised. “It takes a long time to brew, right, Dejun?”

Dejun, the one with the glasses, nods. Which means the one with brown hair is Kunhang—useless information if Jaehyun is killed by Qian Kun. 

“He didn’t say he was a witch,” Ten muses out loud, perching on a couch armrest. The others have also dispersed, taking up various positions.

From where he is slumped in an armchair, Kunhang says, “probably hiding it, right?”

“I should tell Johnny,” Ten thinks out loud. Everyone in the room bristles, Ten apparently unbothered by the sudden animosity from his pack members.

“No, you won’t,” Qian Kun says, a dangerous tone in his voice. He’s the only one standing now, his fingers drumming out a beat around Jaehyun’s throat.

“I won’t,” Ten agrees. “I was just joking.”

Jaehyun relaxes at that, not realising until then that he’s nervous. Really, if he’s going to die, he’ll want to do that with Johnny believing he’s human. Kun eyes him as if he knows this about Jaehyun. The werewolf finally wipes the blood off his cheek, licking it from his hand. 

“I’ll let you have werewolf fur, under two conditions.” Qian Kun releases Jaehyun, who gasps for air as soon as the hand leaves his throat. Qian Kun shoves him away roughly.

“Firstly, you’ll provide us with magic when we need it, including tutoring and charms and whatnot.” When Qian Kun says that, Dejun seems to perk up at the mention. “Secondly, you’ll use my fur. If I sense anything funny happening, even if you didn’t cause it, I’ll rip out your throat.” The room is deadly silent when Qian Kun says that. Yangyang, who’s sitting on a couch nearest the doorway, looks uneasy at the threat.

Jaehyun doesn’t think he has any other choice. He agrees, nodding vigorously from his place on the floor. The smile Qian Kun gives him makes Jaehyun regret every stupid decision he’s made, up to and including crawling out of his mother’s womb.

* * *

"Fucking werewolves," Yuta sighs. Jaehyun has just told him what happened, even including details about the deal. He decides against telling Yuta about Taeyong's teachings however, since he isn't willing to admit to learning dark magic.

"Kun's pretty nice though. By wolf standards." Yuta flashes a smile at Jaehyun.

"He grabbed me by the throat," Jaehyun deadpans. "Not exactly nice."

"He's just protecting his territory. I’ve been told by a lot of people he’s nice," Yuta insists.

"But you don't believe it?" Jaehyun takes a sip of his coffee, home-brewed and served in his favourite mug.

"I don't like werewolves." Which sounds like an understatement, given how many times Yuta's expressed hatred for them. Jaehyun's glad he's not one of them, otherwise he doubts he'll be enjoying the afternoon sun with Yuta on his front porch.

“Can I ask why?”

For a moment Jaehyun thinks he shouldn’t have asked, because Yuta glares into his mug. But the temperature doesn’t change and Yuta relaxes, blowing loose red strands of his hair out of his face.

“I had a bad run-in when I was a kid. Yuki-onna don’t have any particular beef with werewolves, not like they do with vampires, anyway.” Jaehyun nods in understanding when Yuta glances at him. “But apparently my... _ ancestor _ had pissed off some pack leader, and they blamed me.”

“Why would they blame you?” Jaehyun wondered aloud. Yuta tensed from beside Jaehyun. “I mean, werewolves aren’t known to have grudges that span generations.”

Yuta’s silent for a moment. “I’ll tell you later,” he says finally. “Maybe when I trust you more.”

Jaehyun tries not to react to that, but his lips pull downwards as he registers Yuta’s meaning. He knows he’s being unfair; he’s hiding information from Yuta as well, and they haven’t known each other for very long. If anything, the only reason why Yuta even bothers spending time with Jaehyun is because of Mark.

Does this mean Jaehyun doesn’t stand a chance with Yuta? As he studies Yuta’s profile, the sunlight makes his skin look like he’s glowing, his hands start itching with the need to touch his skin, confirm he’s really _ there _ and not some figment of his imagination.

But Jaehyun is worried Yuta will melt away like the snow his ancestors were born from.

* * *

As if sensing the crush blooming in his chest, Jaehyun dreams of Yuta as he falls asleep on the couch. (They still haven’t bought another bed for Jaehyun to sleep in, but he’ll get around to it eventually.)

They’re standing under a tree, ankle deep in fresh snow. Yuta’s hair is loose around his shoulders, his eyes gazing at Jaehyun with deep sorrow. The branches of the tree are adorned with icicles, each threatening to fall. Yuta wears a plain black kimono with what looks like a grey belt—Jaehyun, feeling strangely lucid in the dream, makes a note to look up the different kinds of kimono. Maybe he can impress Yuta with newfound knowledge or-

“You think you can impress me?” Yuta asks. Jaehyun studies him and realises Yuta doesn’t have his tattoos. “What makes you think I’d ever settle for you?”

Jaehyun is tempted to ignore Yuta. After all, he shouldn’t entertain his doubts, even if it is in a dream landscape. “I have to try,” he admits. “I don’t actually believe you’ll end up with me.”

“You wouldn’t be able to survive,” Yuta agrees. “Imagine living like this, Jaehyun. In an endless expanse of white and cold.” Yuta opens his arms out, the loose sleeves of the kimono fanning out. Like an angel, Jaehyun wants to say.

“I would be able to, if it’s with you.” He means it, but he doesn’t mean to say it. 

"Don't lie," Yuta spits out. His eyes are glazed over as if he's going to cry. He runs his hands through his hair, tugging at the strands like he's trying to pull them all out. Jaehyun moves closer, grabbing at Yuta's hands to stop him from hurting himself—an action that makes Yuta scream, pulling away from Jaehyun and holding his hands close to his chest.

Confused, Jaehyun tries to go closer, only freezing when Yuta says with a broken voice, "don't come any closer."

Yuta's hands are steaming. When he slowly uncurls them, Jaehyun can see what looks to be burn marks, where Jaehyun had touched him. Jaehyun looks at his own hands, only to find them normal.

"You'll melt me," Yuta all but whispers, turned away from Jaehyun, his head ducked down. “I don’t want to die.” Yuta then looks at Jaehyun, turning his head to see him, body still angled away. He's crying. Each tear that slips out turns to ice before it hits the snow. When a sob rips through Yuta, the icicles on the tree shake, and one falls when Yuta opens his mouth to address Jaehyun.

"I don't want to kill you," Yuta says. He speaks with an accent, the first time Jaehyun's heard Yuta sound distinctly  _ not  _ native while speaking Korean. The witch blinks, confused at why his mind has chosen this moment to insert it.

Yuta then says something in Japanese. The man is paling, his skin resembling the white that surrounds him. His black kimono makes Yuta look even more deathly. He's still crying—in the real world, Jaehyun would wipe them away. He'd move closer, try to make contact, try to stifle the sobs that seem to shake this dream landscape each time Yuta seems close to breaking, but he can’t. Even in his dream, in this  _ damn _ nightmare, Jaehyun doesn’t want to hurt Yuta.

"You won't do anything to me," Jaehyun says.

Yuta ignores what Jaehyun says. The witch sighs, frustrated at his inability to calm the sobbing man. He has to do something, anything.

"That's why you can't be with me," Yuta says. "I don't want you." Yuta closes his eyes for a moment, and when he opens them again they look empty, void of light. Jaehyun feels his chest seize up when Yuta meets his gaze.

"I don't want you to spend time here, in this snow. And you won't be able to free me from here either." Yuta speaks firmly, despite choking on his emotions with every breath and despite the frost that's forming on his cheeks. "You won't be able to. Please don't try."

"I don't know what you mean," Jaehyun says helplessly. "Yuta, please." He can't even touch him, can't even— _ do anything, _ his own passive nature is now bringing about ruin, in his  _ own damn dream. _

“Don’t try to find out,” Yuta says. His voice sounds fainter.

The icicles from the tree all fall down, crushing Yuta in a thunderous wave. As they fall, Jaehyun looks up to see one heading straight for him.

Jaehyun struggles to breathe for a moment, fighting against the weight on his chest. He flounders, forcing himself to wake up; once he realises he’s no longer inside the dream and there’s a weight on him, he feels around with eyes still shut.

His hands come into contact with dog ears. He slides one eye open carefully, seeing in a very dim light from the streetlights outside that Mark is lying on his chest, curled up around him, legs wrapped around Jaehyun’s. Mark must’ve crawled under Jaehyun’s blanket, because the hybrid is nestled in under it. Jaehyun scratches Mark’s ears for a moment, relief sinking in.

It’s been a while since he’s dreamt of anything. Dreams don’t usually have any special meaning either, but Jaehyun has a sneaking suspicion that this one  _ did. _ It felt too real, and he’s not normally a lucid dreamer. He wonders if he should look into it, or if he should listen to Yuta and  _ not _ try.

He decides that’s for his morning self to uncover as he drifts off again, half-hoping that he dreams a  _ happy _ dream about Yuta.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> the first arc of this, where i introduce the various characters, is slowly coming to a close. which means we're close to the actual plot !! finally !!! lol


	7. Chapter 7

The first lesson with Taeyong is squeezed between his late lectures, checking in on Mark, and his sleep. All of which Jaehyun is inclined to say is far more important than attending illegal dark magic lessons with a notorious vampire, but Jaehyun also doesn’t want to die. So he arrives at the address Sungchan sent him, bringing nothing but his grimoire as he was ordered, pressing the buzzer to the apartment.

He’s buzzed in, and as he climbs the stairs and knocks on the door, he can’t help but think how normal the setting is. The apartment is in an area that Jaehyun knows is for humans; it’s neutral ground as far as the supernatural world is concerned, meaning it's unclaimed territory and  _ claiming  _ it means war.

The sense of normalcy is broken when a hybrid answers the door. The man stares at Jaehyun unblinkingly, before shuffling back inside, leaving the door open. Jaehyun closes his eyes. When he reopens them, he steps inside cautiously and shuts the door behind him.

Up until this point, Jaehyun had held out hope he  _ wouldn't  _ meet Taeyong's hybrid—assuming that's who the hybrid is, anyway. This year really isn't his year.

Jaehyun takes off his shoes in the entrance hall. The hybrid is back and staring at Jaehyun again, before he points to a door, then disappears through that door. Jaehyun follows.

The hybrid is sitting at a table in the room, with one chair opposite Jaehyun. When the hybrid points to it, Jaehyun sits down.

They stare at each other for a moment. The hybrid’s ears are orange and rimmed with black. When they flick back and forth, he can see white spots on the back of them. His hair is white near the base of his head, turning orange as the hair is further up, streaked with black.

A tiger, is what Jaehyun thinks. But he doesn’t know for sure—he’s never heard of such an animal as a hybrid, although he assumes such a being can be made.

“I’m Doyoung,” the hybrid says at last. “I’ll be teaching you for your first lesson.”

Jaehyun can’t help but snort. The hybrid doesn’t give a reaction to that, placing his hands palms down on the table.

“Copy me,” Doyoung says.

“You’re a hybrid,” Jaehyun replies.

“I know.”

“So how are you meant to teach me magic?” Jaehyun asks, half-curious and half-scornful. “I’m a  _ witch _ . I’m not here for tricks-”

Doyoung’s eyes flash dangerously as he cuts Jaehyun off. “How will you know if it’s a trick or not, if you didn’t even bother to try?” This is when Doyoung's sharp gaze slides to look behind Jaehyun, and it's at this moment Jaehyun feels a presence drill into the back of his skull. Thinking he's screwed, he turns to look up and behind him.

There is Taeyong. He doesn't look particularly angry; his expression is closer to pity as he looks at Jaehyun. The witch bristles at the vampire, opening his mouth to complain about the situation.

"Do you doubt me?" Taeyong asks before Jaehyun can get a sound out. "Or do you think I'm mad?"

"I don't think either," Jaehyun says truthfully. "But a hybrid is-"

"Doyoung knows the basics," Taeyong says firmly. "What is happening now isn't because hybrids can't do magic. It's that you are inflexible."

Jaehyun blinks, not understanding. Taeyong huffs, the first sign of irritation. It's at this point that Jaehyun decides to give in rather than push his luck any further. Between a predator hybrid and a powerful vampire, he doesn't like his chances.

"Fine," Jaehyun mumbles. He can't help the pout that he hears in his words. "I'll take lessons from Doyoung."

Taeyong nods and walks back out, moving completely silently. Jaehyun turns to look at Doyoung again, who seems overly smug, sitting up straight with his nose in the air. Doyoung holds out his hand expectantly, and Jaehyun reluctantly puts his hand in the hybrid's, knowing full well what Doyoung is trying to do; Jaehyun also knows that he'll fail in this attempt, like so many others have in the past.

Doyoung is looking for Jaehyun’s specialty. Jaehyun's parents tried when he was young, and all his mentors and teachers had also given it their best shot. Admittedly, a witch is only meant to know for certain when they turn 25, an age Jaehyun has yet to reach. But most witches seem to know before they turn this age, or they can guess based on their parents.

If Jaehyun goes based off his parents, he'd think he has some kind of water-based magic or cloud-type. As it was, Jaehyun did terribly in those types, finding them near impossible to do well. 

Doyoung has his eyes closed, and Jaehyun can feel the pulsing of a foreign energy from where Doyoung's fingertips are pressed into Jaehyun's wrist. The sensation proves Doyoung can use magic—something Jaehyun didn't believe was possible until moments ago. The new-found knowledge makes him pale, the implication setting in.

He bonded with Mark, a being who can potentially use magic. It's forbidden in witch law to do so. It's also forbidden to bond with a hybrid, a fact Jaehyun keeps reminding himself of. A sick thought emerges from the dark, gripping him by the throat. It's not one he wants to give consciousness to.

"I don't know what your specialty is," Doyoung says finally. Unlike the disappointment Jaehyun has faced so many times, Doyoung sounds satisfied.

"No one's ever been able to," Jaehyun offers. He feels himself loosen as he realises (again) that Doyoung knows what he's talking about.

Doyoung eyes Jaehyun contemplatively. He's obviously weighing something up, if the hum from his throat is indicative of anything.

"Do you know how dark magic witches are found?" Doyoung asks. Jaehyun can only shake his head.

"I wasn't taught anything. I never made it to advanced classes."

"Why not? Why weren't you allowed in the advanced courses?" Doyoung's eyes are glittering with something hidden. It's knowledge that's just out of reach to Jaehyun, enough thread to see it leads somewhere, but he doesn't know  _ where _ .

"My magic isn't good enough," Jaehyun says cautiously.

"Were you graded?"

"You mean like in human schools?" Jaehyun asks, confused. When Doyoung nods, Jaehyun shrugs. "No. It was a pass or fail system."

"And what was the outcome?"

"Pass," Jaehyun answers.

"Pass, and yet you weren't good enough?"

"That's what they said to me," Jaehyun confirms. "My parents told me not to be upset and enter the human world, hence why I'm a university student."

Doyoung looks sad at that. He looks away from Jaehyun, hesitating. Doyoung's boldness from earlier is fading before Jaehyun's eyes, because of information that he's unwilling to share.

"I'll take over." Taeyong is back, his red eyes kinder than Jaehyun could have thought possible. Granted, they aren't directed at Jaehyun, but at the hybrid. Doyoung nods, disappearing out of the door and into the apartment, Taeyong now sitting opposite Jaehyun.

"Jaehyun, witch of Seoul," Taeyong addresses him directly, holding his eyes. "I'll rip the bandaid off. No one can detect your specialty, because you possess dark magic.”

Jaehyun waits for Taeyong to tell him he's joking. Taeyong never does, but Jaehyun laughs anyway. It's a nervous giggle, one with a twist in his brow that tells him he's not doing a good job of hiding his inner turmoil. Taeyong is looking at Jaehyun with too much pity. It makes Jaehyun feel sick.

"No way," he says. "My parents are normal."

"Bloodline often has nothing to do with it."

"My parents and my ancestors are normal witches," Jaehyun insists. "I'm not twenty five yet, of course I don't know my specialty. It's normal for boys to be later." He can hear the rising pitch of his voice, on the verge of hysteria. The corners of his eyes spike with liquid, the hot fluid streaking his face. He smiles, feeling his lips tremble and waver, until it collapses in on itself as pulls downwards. 

As quickly as his hysteria set in, a calm washes over Jaehyun. He wipes at his eyes with a pulled-down sleeve, straightens his back, and sets his mouth in one firm line. He presses the tips of fingers into his brow to flatten the creases, hands steady—at odds with the quiver of his soul.

"I can prove it," Taeyong says.

"No you can't," Jaehyun replies evenly. The pity in Taeyong's eyes merges with a look of worry. In a flash of anger, Jaehyun hates this vampire for murdering his ancestors and now seeking to tear Jaehyun apart. The only reasoning for  _ why _ Taeyong would do this to him is to seek revenge over some war neither Jaehyun nor his parents had any part in.

"I have a crystal ball," Taeyong says. Jaehyun's expression doesn't falter at those words, but they do give him pause.

A genuine crystal ball is only for witches who have a specialty and are recognised by the Council. Neither Taeyong or Doyoung are a witch, and as far as Jaehyun is aware, Taeyong shouldn't have any connection to one either.

A war relic, is all Jaehyun can think. Taeyong can clearly read what the cold glare from Jaehyun means, but the vampire only shrugs a shoulder. Doyoung enters the room straight after the gesture, placing a green crystal ball on the table. The ball sits on a white cushion.

"You know what to do," Taeyong says, waving a hand.

"No." Jaehyun is refusing to do what Taeyong wants. It's not because he doesn't know what to do, but he doesn't want to find out. 

Taeyong fixes him with a glare that Jaehyun has to look away from. He doesn't want this, Jaehyun wants to say. If he puts his hand on the crystal ball for the first time in his life, and the ball turns black, he'll know he uses dark magic. And he cannot be a dark magic user.

(He still wants to be the son of his parents.)

"I'll make you, if you do not do this willingly." Each syllable is accentuated and sharpened into razors. Jaehyun feels them slice his ears.

As if his hands have a desire that runs counter to what Jaehyun wants, they place themselves on the crystal ball. The ball is cold against his palms. There's a pause, then the ball pulses beneath his hands.

It turns black.

* * *

Jaehyun wakes on the floor. For a moment he thinks it's a dream, until his brain registers the presence of Taeyong and Doyoung leaning over him, looking concerned. Jaehyun glances around, realising his head is resting on Taeyong's lap and Doyoung's hand is on his forehead.

"It wasn't a dream."

"It wasn't," Taeyong confirms. The whites of his eyes look red, almost as pigmented as his irises. Jaehyun doesn't know why that is until he remembers vampires cry with blood, not tears.

But there's no reason why this monster would shed tears over ruining Jaehyun's life.

"I'm a dark magic witch." The words make his lips go numb. Neither of the two respond to his words, but Jaehyun doesn't need them to. He knows it's true, the crystal ball has given him the equivalent of a death sentence.

Jaehyun doesn't cry, but a high keening sound erupts from his throat. He slaps a hand over his mouth with eyes wide to muffle the sound.

"How long was I out," Jaehyun asks, if only to buy time as he wrestles with his inner conflict.

"About ten minutes," Doyoung says. "Not long."

Jaehyun swallows at the thought. "Ten minutes isn't a long time, Mark should be fine," he mumbles. "He shouldn't come here, I told him not to worry unless it's prolonged."

Taeyong frowns for a beat, then his expression clears. "You mean the one you're looking after? Why would he come here?"

Jaehyun hesitates. He doesn't know how Taeyong will react, and since he's still resting on his lap...well, he doesn't want to make it any easier for the vampire to snap his neck. He sits up, ignoring the dizzy spell washing over him, to distance himself.

"He's my Familiar," Jaehyun admits, bracing himself for an attack.

Instead, Taeyong simply stares for a moment. "You made a hybrid a Familiar?"

"Yes," Jaehyun says quietly. Doyoung's eyes dart between the pair of them like he's watching a tennis match. Jaehyun is inching back so he can give himself room.

Taeyong, from where he's kneeling, simply nods as he processes the new information.Taeyong moves as if to speak, but Jaehyun's sudden rising panic silences Taeyong.

"I'm a dark magic witch," Jaehyun says in a much higher pitch than usual, even higher than before. "Oh my god, I'm going to be killed, I'm dead when I turn twenty five, I'm..." it's at this point that Jaehyun begins speaking incoherently. He can hear himself say gibberish, but he's unable to attach any proper syllables together to make a full word. The witch squeezes his eyes shut, hoping to will himself back into the ignorance he'd been enjoying just half an hour before he arrived at this damn house.

Arms wrap around him, and Jaehyun just knows it's Doyoung. The body heat, the soft murmurs, and a hand through his hair. Warm and safe, Jaehyun thinks, except he doesn't know for sure if he'll ever be safe again.

* * *

As soon as Jaehyun walks through the front door of his house, Mark jumps on him and hugs him tightly. Jaehyun picks Mark up so he can move further into the house, closing the door behind him with his leg. Then he stills, soaking in the warmth of Mark.

"I felt you panic," Mark says. His feet are firmly on the ground, head buried in Jaehyun's chest.

"Yeah," Jaehyun says weakly.

"Will you tell me what it's about?"

Jaehyun tightens his hold on Mark, and Mark clings onto him just as tightly. Jaehyun is afraid, and no doubt Mark can feel the weight of the emotion. Jaehyun can't help but feel guilty. Mark, as a dark magic user's Familiar, will likely be killed at the same time as Jaehyun, simply for existing.

"I'm a dark magic witch." Jaehyun says it simply, knowing Mark doesn't have any idea what that is.

He spends a few moments to gather his words—and give Mark a few more heartbeats of ignorance.

"Basically, dark magic is forbidden," Jaehyun explains. "And witches have a specialty. I haven't known mine, and I don't think anyone else did either. But Taeyong...he had me touch a crystal ball. Witches aren't really meant to touch one until they make it into advanced courses, hence why I haven't, and." Jaehyun makes a popping noise with his mouth, then sighs heavily. "I have three or so years, at best," Jaehyun says finally. "I have to figure out a way to keep us alive."

Mark is silent, soaking in the information. Then, with more maturity than Jaehyun expected, he simply says, "I understand. I trust you to figure something out, and I don't mind if you don't."

"You should mind," Jaehyun mumbles with an impassiveness he didn't know he possesses until this moment. "You'll go down in history as a dark magic Familiar. You'll die."

"I know I'll die," Mark says. "But I'm a hybrid, I was always meant to die young. At least with you, I'm a lot freer than I ever was in my past." He sounds brave. More brave than Jaehyun has ever been, the witch thinks. He finds he's not bitter. Instead, he feels himself filling with pride.

If only for Mark, he'll make it through this. He has to.

* * *

Yuta is the next and only other person Jaehyun tells, as they’re both drinking tea on Jaehyun’s front porch again. Yuta studies Jaehyun's face as he talks, expressionless. It unnerves him, especially with the dream he had of Yuta in the snow. The mental image of that dream keeps returning to him, especially when Yuta looks sad as he hears what dark magic entails for a witch.

"I'll help you in any way I can," Yuta promises as soon as Jaehyun is done. Jaehyun blinks.

"You don't have to," Jaehyun begins, but Yuta holds up one elegant hand.

"I know I don't, but look at it this way. A Korean Council of witches can't persecute me—I'm not a witch and I'm not Korean, and it's not as if yuki-onna ever listen to what the other supernatural beings have to say." Yuta arches an eyebrow at Jaehyun, and Jaehyun feels his heart beat a little faster, his ears grow a little warmer when he meets Yuta's eyes. "I'll be helping you because I think it's a shame if you die so soon."

Yuta doesn't elaborate on why it'd be a shame for Jaehyun to die so soon, despite Jaehyun waiting for Yuta to expand.

"Okay," Jaehyun says finally. "Thank you." It's with great relief that he says that. Of course he's thankful—he has both Mark and Yuta, two more people than he would've had if he had found this out alone. And he supposes he has Taeyong and Doyoung to help him master this kind of magic, but he still doubts their intentions no matter how much they claim they want to help.

"So," Yuta says, "I do have a few questions."

"Ask away," Jaehyun says with ease.

"The first one is, what exactly is dark magic? What does it do?"

"Um." This stumps Jaehyun, and it's only the first question. "I was told it meddles with the autonomy of others," he explains, "but no one ever said how."

"And you witches value autonomy," Yuta notes. "Okay, next question. How did Taeyong know you had dark magic?"

This much Jaehyun can answer, because he asked Taeyong this when he'd left their last lesson.

"Vampires can detect the presence of dark magic, since they're creatures of it," Jaehyun parrots Taeyong's words.

Yuta hums in understanding. Unexpectedly, he then pouts at Jaehyun, who feels himself flush even more.

"I'm kind of hurt you didn't trust me with information about Taeyong," he whines. "You didn't tell me or Mark that you were getting lessons from a vampire and a hybrid, of all people."

Mark had also complained about the same thing, but he had done it to Yuta when he thought Jaehyun wasn't listening. Jaehyun half-smiles at the thought.

"I couldn't exactly just announce it," Jaehyun defends. "And anyway, I didn't know I was getting lessons from a hybrid. I didn't think hybrids could even do magic."

"I was going to ask about that, but that answers my question." Yuta shakes his head. He has his red hair out and it flutters around his face prettily. "Maybe it's the side effect of being a vampire's meal."

"Maybe," but Jaehyun isn't as sure as Yuta sounds. “I feel stressed,” Jaehyun admits.

"That's fine," Yuta says. Even though he states it as a fact, the sound of his voice is soothing to Jaehyun. "A lot is happening. Let's just do this one day at a time."

Jaehyun has no clue as to why Yuta is willing to do so much for him. But he won't question it—because it might wake Yuta up from this mindset, and then Jaehyun has no reason to talk to him any more. (He wants to spend the rest of his life talking to Yuta and basking in his presence, however short his life is.)

Yuta sits up straight, the porch chair creaking under the sudden shift in weight. His eyes narrow at the fence, and Jaehyun goes to follow his gaze.

Yangyang is standing by the gate, grinning over the top of it. He waves, jumps the gate, and runs up to them before either have time to stand.

"Hi," he says. He waves at them. "Jaehyun, cool to see you again, and hey," Yangyang pauses as he takes in Yuta, eyes coldly scrutinising him despite the grin which never falters on his face. "You're like, a Japanese something, right?"

"Yes," Yuta says. "I'm a miko."

Yangyang's grin broadens. "Cool. A witch and a shaman sitting on a porch." He's speaking in a sing-songy voice, a tune Jaehyun recognises. As Yangyang begins the 'k-i-s...' part, Jaehyun all but lunges off the porch, clapping a hand over Yangyang's mouth, the other clutching Yangyang's shoulder and squeezing, feeling the taut flesh of muscle. The werewolf doesn't seem to mind the aggressive action. Jaehyun can hear and feel Yangyang cackle madly underneath his palm, Jaehyun giving him a warning shake.

"Don't," Jaehyun warns Yangyang as he lifts his hand from Yangyang's mouth.

"I won't," Yangyang says airily, clearly lying, "but I'm not here to tease, I'm here to give you a message."

"A message?" Jaehyun repeats.

"Kun- _ ge  _ wants the first lesson to be tomorrow morning," Yangyang chirps.

"Lesson?" Yuta asks.

"Jaehyun is going to teach some of us magic," Yangyang says like it's obvious. Jaehyun would ordinarily brush it off as innocence, but the way Yangyang looks at Jaehyun makes him think the werewolf is trying to piss Jaehyun off by spilling personal information. Well, Yuta knows about the dark magic and the whole Taeyong ordeal, so Jaehyun figures this is fine.

"Oh," is all Yuta says. "Good luck dealing with a bunch of wolves." Unlike the hatred Yuta has displayed for the werewolves, he sounds perfectly neutral. Jaehyun expects Yuta to complain at length once they're alone again.

"Thanks," Yangyang says like Yuta was speaking to him. "Gosh, I can't believe I came all this way just for a message. Kun- _ ge _ can be so mean." An understatement; Qian Kun is easily in the top three scariest people Jaehyun's ever met.

"And I'm not even being invited in," Yangyang complains, already stepping onto the porch and sauntering into the house as if they are old friends. Jaehyun sighs, exchanges looks with Yuta, and follows the werewolf inside.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> hey its been a wee bit,,,,,this chapter took longer than i thought and it was like 1k words more than i aimed for lol
> 
> uhhh first of all the writing of this chapter isn't up to standard, so sorry about that,,,,maybe i'll rewrite at one point but the content will be the same plot-wise
> 
> secondly sorry for any mistakes, i keep noticing them but i think i got them all ?? yikes
> 
> thirdly i might slow down with updates, but i might speed up as well. i would keep a schedule but i'm allergic to schedules so we'll all just have to wing it
> 
> if u wld like to complain at me on twt im [ @valentinehoax](https://www.twitter.com/valentinehoax) yeet


	8. Chapter 8

Yangyang gets on  _ too _ well with Mark. Mark is instantly comfortable around Yangyang, and they swap stories in English—Jaehyun understands the words, but Yangyang will say something obviously referencing a common  _ thing _ and Jaehyun doesn’t get it. Mark does though, and the hybird easily picks up the conversation and it flows smoothly between the two of them. Jaehyun doesn’t mind the confusion, since Yangyang makes him giggle. 

Jaehyun thinks it may be some kind of shared dog instinct, but it’s not like he can  _ ask _ them to confirm it. Are werewolves and dog hybrids even compatible? Jaehyun watches Mark fall over laughing, using Yangyang to prop himself up where they sit next to each other on the couch. Based on those two, yes, they are compatible.

Yuta also sets aside his dislike for werewolves when he sees how comfortable Mark is, although he mutters to Jaehyun that he’ll mess Yangyang up if anything bad happens to Mark because of the werewolf. The way Yuta says it makes Jaehyun believe every word.

After showing Mark a bunch of videos—having found out Mark missed a lot of pop culture growing up, including something called ‘TikTok’, which turns to be a now-defunct video app. Not long after the tenth compilation Yangyang and Mark watch, Yangyang waves goodbye, loudly stomping away with a promise that he’ll pick Jaehyun up for tomorrow’s lesson.

Which Yangyang does, showing up a little before nine the next day. By this time Jaehyun is up and thankful he has no morning classes when he opens the door. Jaehyun puts a finger to his mouth, whispered, “Mark’s still sleeping. I left a note for him.”

Yangyang nods solemnly, the first time Jaehyun’s seen him without a smile. Said smile returns once they’re out the gate and Yangyang is skipping down the footpath, stopping from time to time to let Jaehyun catch up. They end up in the same part as last time, Yangyang taking him to the house where Qian Kun terrorised him.

Just great, Jaehyun thought as he watches Yangyang reenact the last time Jaehyun was there, using a sharp kick to the door to open it, then dragging Jaehyun inside. Jaehyun hopes it’s not a  _ faithful _ reenactment.

When Jaehyun had been there last time, it had been getting dark outside and for whatever reason, Qian Kun had been in a foul mood. In the morning light, Qian Kun is in a good mood. He emerges from somewhere in the house with a warm smile and an apron, seemingly a lot calmer.

Qian Kun says something to Yangyang in a foreign language. Probably Mandarin, but Jaehyun’s not familiar enough to be confident in his guess. Qian Kun’s gaze shifts to Jaehyun as Yangyang replies in the same language. It’s not particularly threatening, but Jaehyun remembers how Qian Kun had casually held him by the throat like a rag doll. He gulps.

“Have you two eaten?” Qian Kun asks, now speaking Korean. 

“I have,” Jaehyun answers when Yangyang turns to him. He feels his stomach kick up a fuss at indirectly rejecting food, to which Jaehyun reminds it about the last time they were here. All protests die at the memory.

“I have too,” Yangyang says cherrily, “but I can fit more in.”

Qian Kun nods. “I’ll bring some up for you when I take up Dejun’s meal,” he says. He’s being far too kind, Jaehyun thinks, fear pooling in his gut. “Do you want anything?” Qian Kun asks Jaehyun.

“No thank you, sir,” Jaehyun says, reflexively adding the  _ sir. _ Yangyang snickers beside him.

“No need to call me sir,” Qian Kun tells him. “Just call me Kun- _ ge, _ like how the pack does. Since you’ll be here a lot.”

That sounds like both a threat and a welcoming to Jaehyun. Truthfully, he doesn’t know which is worse.

Yangyang then drags Jaehyun up the stairs, loosely holding Jaehyun’s wrist. It's not as if Jaehyun will try and run away; he's not stupid. When Yangyang glances back at Jaehyun, his grin implies the werewolf also knows Jaehyun isn't going to try anything.

He's lead down a hallway, and then in what Jaehyun is starting to recognise as typical Yangyang behaviour, Yangyang kicks the door open. There's a yelp of complaint from the inhabitants inside.

"Hiya," Yangyang chirps. "Our teacher is here." Yangyang tugs on Jaehyun's wrist expectantly, encouraging Jaehyun to cross the threshold. Jaehyun does so with much anxiety, mildly reassured by Yangyang’s presence.

One look around establishes it as a bedroom. There are two beds inside, one single bed on opposite sides of the room. In contrast to the living room, it's surprisingly tidy, with everything seemingly tucked away in drawers and closets. There's a rug in the centre of the room, and a low table. Two people sit at this table on the floor, looking up at the pair who just entered.

Jaehyun weakly smiles at the pair. They seem just as nervous as Jaehyun is. Yangyang sits down, apparently the only one not on edge, pulling Jaehyun with him. Jaehyun sits cross-legged on the floor, hands on his knees.

"Um," Jaehyun says awkwardly, "you guys are the people I'm teaching magic to?"

"Yup," Yangyang says eagerly. The other two look less enthused at the mention of magic.

"Okay," Jaehyun says. He sounds unsteady to his own ears. "Can I ask then...how much you all know?"

"Only werewolf stuff," Yangyang says. "I can shift, but it's kind of difficult. The werewolf magic that Kun- _ ge _ can use is really difficult, and he doesn't explain it well because he doesn’t really get how magic works, like how witches are taught it."

"All right," Jaehyun speaks slowly. He looks expectantly at the other two—he recognises the one with glasses as Dejun, but the other person is a stranger. Either Yukhei or Sicheng, he figures, who were out the last time Jaehyun visited. Whichever he is, he’s got a natural coldness in his carefully crafted expression.

"I'm Sicheng," he says as if reading Jaehyun's mind. Taken back, Jaehyun can only nod. "And I'm not a werewolf."

This surprises Jaehyun. He blinks, trying to adjust to the situation. Dejun holds up a hand tentatively.

"Neither am I," Dejun says, looking more scared than Jaehyun had felt when held by the throat, courtesy of Qian Kun.

"Then what are you?" He asks slowly. "You don't have to say what exactly," he adds, sensing the tension in the room. “Just the family of creatures will do."

Sicheng, apparently bolder than Dejun, straightens his back to look down his nose at Jaehyun. "I'm descended from Qilin."

Jaehyun knows what Qilin are, and his mouth drops open. Yangyang snickers from beside him, then reaches over to close it for Jaehyun. Jaehyun's teeth click together.

As if aiming for a double strike of some sort, Dejun rushes out his own confession. "I'm half fox spirit."

Jaehyun's jaw drops. Again, Yangyang closes it for him with a click.

Qilin are chimerical creatures. Jaehyun’s more familiar with the Korean version, known as  _ girin, _ where they’re horse-like creatures with the torso of a deer and an ox tail. One of the four divine creatures, Jaehyun recalls, but he’s not as familiar with what the Chinese mythology states. He only hopes it’s similar.

Fox spirits are  _ kumiho, _ a nine-tailed fox that can transform into many different forms (notably a beautiful woman), and eats the livers and hearts of men to fuel their fox marble. Jaehyun assumes a Chinese fox spirit is similar, but like the case of the Qilin, he’s floundering in deep water.

Jaehyun can feel his mind reeling from the shock. Neither Qilin or fox spirits are common—Jaehyun’s not even sure if any have been spotted this  _ century. _ The other two apparently know what's going on with Jaehyun—or his expression is an open book. Probably a mixture of both, a calmer part of Jaehyun notes. Dejun already seems defeated, as if expecting a bad reaction.

"Okay," Jaehyun says weakly. His wits are half recovered. He coughs into his fist. "Okay," he says, this time more firmly. "Since I'll be tutoring you three—uh, I'll need to do an evaluation." The three nod. Dejun starts looking more hopeful, Sicheng still impassive. Yangyang is grinning away. Jaehyun wishes he could share Yangyang's good spirits.

"Also, I don't know much about how Qilin or fox spirits use their magic," Jaehyun says apologetically. "Sorry, I'll have to do research on that, and I don't have my full grimoire with me."

"Full grimoire?" Yangyang asks, leaning toward Jaehyun and invading his personal space. He rests his chin on Jaehyun's shoulder, blowing air onto Jaehyun's neck as he talks. "You have a travel version or something?"

"Kind of," Jaehyun responds. He takes out a sheet of paper from his pocket, unfolding it. He frowns at the words on it. "I can order this page to show me some spells that I have saved. A bit like saving a pdf of all the first lines of a chapter from a novel," he explains. "It'll help in a pinch, but it doesn't have the same level of information.”

"That's cool," Yangyang says excitedly. "Hey, do you think Dejun and Sicheng will get a grimoire?"

"That's only for witches." Sicheng's voice is ice cold, silencing Yangyang. Then Sicheng smiles, immediately breaking the cold image Jaehyun has of him. "Witches are the ones good at spells. I guess fox spirits can learn too, but I for sure won't be able to cast anything meaningful."

Jaehyun nods thoughtfully. "I was given my grimoire by the council," he muses. "I don't know how to make one, but maybe I can pirate one for Dejun. It also won’t hurt to try for Sicheng."

Dejun brightens at the mention. "You can do that?"

"Maybe. No promises."

"What's no promises?" Kun enters with a tray, the suddenness making Jaehyun jump. The movement makes Jaehyun's shoulder collide with Yangyang's chin, both of them hissing in pain.

"Sorry," Jaehyun says to Yangyang, who waves it off as he turns his attention to the food.

"Teacher might be able to get me a grimoire," Dejun tells Kun as Kun is setting down the tray. When Kun straightens, he looks at Jaehyun.

"Really? Wouldn't that be illegal?"

"I already own a hybrid," Jaehyun says airily. "And I'm now teaching non-witches our ways. One more crime won't hurt."

A silence falls over the other four, a thick blanket smothering them. They all trade looks with each other, Sicheng looking the most uncomfortable.

"Well," Kun says. "If you're okay with it, I won't stop you." He directs this to Jaehyun and leaves.

Yangyang is grinning still, but this time it looks like a grimace. "Sounds good," he agrees, but Jaehyun can tell his heart wasn't in the words.

"Anyway," Dejun says, eyes darting around as if looking for a way out. "What kind of magic do you use, Jaehyun?"

An innocent question, but Jaehyun isn't in the mood to list another crime for them to all act mysterious over.

"I don't know," he lies. "I'm not twenty five yet, and that's when my parents will test me."

All three nod understandingly. Jaehyun claps his hands. "Okay," he says, trying to not act stiff around them. "After you eat, we’ll see what you can do."

* * *

As it turns out, they can't do very much.

As soon as they step outside into the back garden, Yangyang volunteers to go first. Dejun’s shoulders relax at the announcement, and Sicheng tenses. Kun also comes out to watch them from a distance.

“Here I go,” Yangyang calls. He’s standing in the centre of the garden, the high fence shielding them from onlookers. The werewolf—just a boy, Jaehyun realises randomly, probably barely a man—squeezes his eyes shut. When he opens them, Jaehyun can see his canines are slightly sharper. Yangyang jumps forward, landing solidly in front of Jaehyun having crossed several yards with ease. Jaehyun pretends not to be startled.

“There,” Yangyang says. He puffs up his chest. “I’m done.”

_ That’s it?  _ is what Jaehyun wants to say, but he doesn’t. A second look at Yangyang shows Jaehyun how brittle the boy’s smile is, like he’s embarrassed but trying to hide it. Werewolves are meant to be able to do  _ more, _ but it’s fine. Jaehyun’s task is to help him, after all.

“All right,” Jaehyun says agreeably. Not thinking, he ruffles Yangyang’s hair. He looks at the other two who are waiting on the sidelines. “Which one of you is next?”

“I’ll go,” Sicheng says. He strides to where Yangyang had been, the werewolf now at Jaehyun’s side and clinging to his arm. Jaehyun ignores Yangyang, focusing on Sicheng.

The first thing Sicheng does is blow out of his mouth, and water streams into the air, a fairly small arc in the air that lands half a yard in front of him. Next, Sicheng jumps up, and hovers about a foot off the ground. Then he walks over to Jaehyun like he’s impersonating Jesus walking on water. Jaehyun doesn’t know how to feel about this development.

Sicheng looks down on Jaehyun from where he’s standing on air. “I’m also done,” Sicheng says. “I can fly for a short distance too. From here I think I can make it to the other side of the city at a low altitude.”

“Okay,” Jaehyun says, squinting up at Sicheng. Then, as Sicheng plops back onto the ground, he glances at Dejun. “Last one.”

Dejun is biting on his thumbnail. He does as he’s told, walking over to the same spot where Sicheng and Yangyang stood. Unlike them, he keeps his back to Jaehyun. His legs are shaking, Jaehyun notes, feeling uneasy, like he’s pressuring Dejun into something he doesn’t want to do.

Nothing happens for a few moments. Jaehyun counts in his head silently, reaching about a minute and a half. As each second passes he grows more and more uncomfortable, thinking Dejun must feel even more anxious as time goes on.

“Dejun,” Jaehyun says eventually, making sure to keep the pity out of his voice. “It’s fine. You don’t need to show me anything.”

He doesn’t get a response, but Jaehyun can see his shoulders shake. Jaehyun sighs. He heads over to Dejun, momentarily forgetting they have an audience, and walks around Dejun so he can see his face. Dejun ducks his head, Jaehyun unable to see his expression. So he bends his knees to look up into Dejun’s face.

To Jaehyun’s relief, Dejun isn’t crying, but he seems close to tears. He’s biting his lip, and meets Jaehyun’s eyes squarely.

“Sorry.” Dejun’s voice is a broken whisper.

“Don’t be,” Jaehyun mutters, hoping he sounds reassuring. “What were you trying to do?”

“I wanted to bring fire,” Dejun says softly. “I can summon fire. I’ve done it before.”

“What happened when you did summon it? As in, what emotions did you feel?”

“Anger,” Dejun whispers. “I’m too scared to.”

“Are you scared of me?”

“Yes.” Jaehyun appreciates the honesty. Especially since Dejun seems weighed down by something; Jaehyun won’t push the issue any further, guessing Dejun has a reason to be nervous. He holds out his hands.

“Will you let me see how your magic flows?” Jaehyun asks.

Dejun nods, placing his hands in Jaehyun’s. Jaehyun closes his eyes, holding Dejun’s hands like they’re fractured glass. He pushes magical energy into Dejun, feeling out what’s happening. He finds he can’t make his magical energy go any further than Dejun’s elbows. With a sigh, he retracts the energy and releases Dejun’s hands. He straightens where he stands, Dejun now looking up at Jaehyun.

“There’s a block in your magic,” Jaehyun explains. “A seal, but I don’t know what. Another thing I’ll look into,” he promises.

The smile Dejun gives him is broad and rewarding. Dejun turns back to the house, Jaehyun putting an arm around his shoulder in comfort. Yangyang and Sicheng had been watching them both, and Yangyang flashes one of his smiles at them both, eyes forming half-moons. Sicheng meets Jaehyun’s eyes and nods.

Feeling eyes on him, he glances at where Kun is standing. The werewolf is still at a distance, away from the group. Kun is studying them, Jaehyun in particular. When Kun sees Jaehyun is watching, the werewolf’s lips quirk in what Jaehyun thinks is a smirk, but he’s not sure.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> poor dejun.
> 
> also i know this is a yujae fic.......and yuta hasn't been appearing much......i really didn't think that when i started writing this, i'd be 20k+ words in and not a kiss in sight. sigh. i'm disappointed lol


	9. Chapter 9

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> tw for mentioned sexual abuse/forced prostitution, mentioned homophobia, and anxiety (?)
> 
> it's minor except for the anxiety, so this is just a heads up ^^;

Jaehyun calls Johnny. He has to wait for a few seconds before Johnny picks up.

“Been a while,” Johnny says. “How’s it going?”

“Caught up with some family stuff,” Jaehyun says, lying far too easily. “It’ll all work out, don’t worry. But anyway—I gotta ask, I need to register Mark at a medical clinic and get him a check up. Where should I go?”

“Oh, that’s easy. Remember  _ Down the Rabbit Hole _ ?”

Jaehyun has to think for a moment. “Oh, that hybrid rights place? Where Ten is?”

“That’s the one,” Johnny agrees. He sighs like he's lovesick, but Jaehyun isn't sure. “There’s a medical clinic called  _ Moon _ next door to it. I’d trust them with my life, and they take walk-ins.”

“Cool. Thanks.”

“No problem. Everything good with Mark?”

“Yeah, of course. I just want to like, make sure there’s not something hidden. Call it paranoia, but I’m just looking out for him.” He also wants to prove Mark exists in the human world some more—Jaehyun figures since he's limited time, he has to develop Mark's network as quickly as possible. 

“Nah, that’s fine. We should hang out sometime, catch up with each other.”

“We should. I can probably do tomorrow, if you want.”

“Sounds good to me,” Johnny says. “I have to go to class now. Take care.”

“Yeah. Bye.”

Johnny hangs up. Jaehyun puts the phone down.

“A medical check up?” Mark says. Jaehyun turns to see Mark standing in the doorway of the living room. He looks scared, Jaehyun thinks, feeling like he’s messed up somehow. Mark is clutching the hem of his shirt so it's bunched, knuckles white.

“Yeah, is that okay with you?”

“You’ll come with me?” Mark is curling in on himself, like he can make himself invisible if he tries hard enough.

“Of course,” Jaehyun says soothingly. “I’ll be there every step of the way.” he approaches Mark slowly, sensing Mark is put on edge by the idea of a doctor. Or a clinic, or something about travelling in the city. Or all three—Jaehyun doesn’t  _ really _ know anything about Mark, and he can’t tell what’s going to affect him and what isn’t.

“I’m scared.” There’s a whimper to his tone, and Jaehyun feels his heart break slightly.

“If it’s too much for you, we can leave at any time and go back when you’re ready,” Jaehyun promises. “But please try, I want you to be healthy.”

“What about your potions?” Mark is all but begging. At least he’s not running or something, instead choosing to wrap his arms around Jaehyun’s waist and cling to him. Jaehyun takes that as a sign of trust.

“I can’t use them if I don’t know what’s wrong.” Partially true. Most easy level potions are targeted towards certain types of injuries or illnesses, with the more complex ones becoming increasingly omnipotent. The problem is they’re addictive, and Jaehyun can’t make an endless amount of these types without sending off alarm bells; the amount of magic that would gather around the apartment would also attract other, less civilised, supernatural creatures. 

Mark sniffles and rubs his face on Jaehyun’s shirt. Finally, Mark releases Jaehyun from his grip.

“Okay,” Mark says, sounding miserable. “I’ll go to the doctor.”

* * *

As soon as they arrive at the clinic, they’re ushered into the doctor’s room with no fuss by a woman who calls herself Chaeyoung. Jaehyun had expected to wait for some time, but evidently business is slow in the clinic. There’s no one else around, Jaehyun notes, just the receptionist who saw them in and the doctor now sitting opposite them.

Jaehyun and Mark are seated in plastic chairs. Mark is closer to the doctor, and he occasionally glances at Jaehyun to make sure he’s there. Jaehyun breathes slowly to make sure he seems calm from the other end of the Familiar bond.

The doctor is surprisingly young. He introduces himself as Taeil, smiling warmly at Mark. When he looks at Jaehyun, Jaehyun thinks he feels the temperature drop faster than one of Yuta’s angry moods. He half-wishes Yuta is here to help Jaehyun deal with this doctor, and the doctor hasn't said a word to him yet.

“What brings you here?” Taeil asks Mark. Mark turns to Jaehyun, clearly hoping Jaehyun will pick up the thread. Jaehyun, feeling bad for making Mark sit in a clinic he obviously doesn’t want to be in, smiles tightly at Taeil.

“A check-up,” Jaehyun says. “I’d like to enroll Mark here as well, if that’s all right.”

Taeil’s smile drops when Jaehyun speaks, a flat expression taking over. Jaehyun wonders if Taeil is some kind of supernatural creature that hates witches.

“Of course that’s fine,” Taeil says, making no effort to disguise his dislike for Jaehyun. Jaehyun, on his part, is fairly unbothered by it. Mark on the other hand is shrinking away from Taeil, wrinkling his nose like Taeil smells. When the doctor looks at Mark, he frowns at the reaction.

Jaehyun figures this kind of behaviour is why no one comes to this place. No human would want to be treated like they’re not worthy to be Taeil’s presence.

“If you don’t mind sitting on the bed,” Taeil says, gesturing to the bed on the other side of the room.

“I do mind,” Mark says timidly. He grabs Jaehyun’s hand.

“The human can come with you,” Taeil offers, clearly resigning himself to having to put up with Mark. Mark drags Jaehyun with him, and with the death grip around Jaehyun’s grip, the check up takes place. Jaehyun thinks he’s going to bruise and wonders if he has balm at home.

It’s quicker than Jaehyun thinks it would be. Once Taeil is required to do something  _ medical _ , he’s professional and efficient; he just can’t socialise, Jaehyun concludes. Or his hatred for humans is strong enough to interfere with literally everyone he comes into contact with.

As soon as Taeil announces he’s done, Mark crawls over Jaehyun so the witch is a barrier between him and the doctor. Taeil informs Mark he’s healthy, completely ignoring Jaehyun.

Jaehyun asks himself why the hell Johnny recommended this doctor. Taeil’s probably a quack.

Once they’re out and on the street, both Jaehyun and Mark breathe a sigh of relief.

“That was weird,” Jaehyun comments.

“He was probably the nicest doctor I’ve ever met,” Mark says uneasily. “I don’t trust him.”

Jaehyun looks at Mark, not understanding why Mark would say that.  _ Nice  _ is not a word Jaehyun would apply to Taeil. Maybe it’s linked to something in Mark’s past, Jaehyun muses. He glances at the bookstore, then back at Mark, getting an impulsive idea.

“I want to go to the bookstore,” Jaehyun announces to Mark, who doesn’t disagree. He obediently follows Jaehyun in, looking around at the books in curiosity.

“Jaehyun,” the person at the counter calls. Jaehyun glances at the person, half-surprised to be recognized.

“Jungwoo,” Jaehyun says, approaching. Mark sticks close to Jaehyun, then practically melts in Jaehyun’s side when Jungwoo looks at him with interest.

“Who’s this?” Jungwoo peers at Mark.

“This is Mark,” Jaehyun says, feeling his muscles tense. “My hybrid.”

“Oh, the one you came to see us about?”

“That’s the one.” Jaehyun feels Mark slip his hand into Jaehyun’s again, Jaehyun squeezing his hand in reassurance.

When Jungwoo studies Jaehyun coolly and smiles at Mark, it strikes Jaehyun that Jungwoo is like a diluted version of Taeil—they don't like Jaehyun, because he owns a hybrid. It's an uncomfortable thought, settling inside him, a weird sense of exclusion. This alone makes Jaehyun squirm; what would happen if they learn Jaehyun is gay? Would they jump to the conclusion his love for Mark is  _ sexual _ ? Even though Mark is like a younger brother to Jaehyun—Jaehyun can't help but harbour resentment.

This is what his ancestors must have felt, Jaehyun muses as Mark presses his face against Jaehyun's arm. When they were all accused of making deals with the devil.

"What brings you here?" Jungwoo slices through Jaehyun's turmoil with clean words.

Jaehyun decides he doesn't like Jungwoo, but Jaehyun also considers himself an award winning actor.

"I want to show Mark information about the rights movement," Jaehyun says with feigned brightness. This act seems to work, because Jungwoo flashes a considerate smile at Jaehyun, his countenance softening.

"Head through the back," Jungwoo says. Jaehyun remembers where Ten had led him last time, and now he retraces his steps. Mark closely follows Jaehyun, and steps on the back of Jaehyun's shoe. Mark freezes, stopping and letting go of Jaehyun.

When Jaehyun turns, he's confused to see Mark taking a few steps back. Mark bows, Jungwoo watching the exchange through narrowed eyes.

"S-Sorry, sir," Mark says, eyes fixed on the ground.

"Don't be," Jaehyun says softly, not really knowing what's happening with Mark. He holds out his hand, wanting Mark to take it of his own will. With a pang he realises he might be pushing Mark too far too soon; Jaehyun is inflicting a series of humans Mark hasn't met, and  _ said  _ he doesn't want to. 

A therapist is definitely needed, Jaehyun decides, not for the first time. It means more rearranging of money, but it'll be worth it. (Hopefully.)

Mark, after looking up at Jaehyun to search his face, places his hand in Jaehyun's. Mark moves slowly to him, and Jaehyun smiles as he scratches at Mark's ears.

"You didn't do anything wrong, okay?" When Mark nods, Jaehyun sighs at how cute Mark is. He suppresses the thought, since it's not the right time or place.

"Let's go," Jaehyun says, gesturing in the direction with his head, keeping Mark's gaze locked on his. "I'm going to tell you about the hybrid rights movement. It's all science based, just learning some stuff. Nothing will happen to you."

There's a thrum that channels down the Familiar bond from Mark to Jaehyun. It tells Jaehyun Mark trusts him implicitly. 

(That isn't meant to happen. It means Mark can learn magic—Jaehyun wonders what this means for them in the future.)

They head to the back. Jaehyun knocks on the door to the room Ten had brought him in the past. He doesn't really know what to expect when the door opens, finding Ten and another person in the room. Ten is the one who answered, and his expression lightens with recognition.

"Hey there," Ten says, stepping aside to let them in. "We got more furniture back here." 

There are now more chairs, Jaehyun finds, and a couple more tables. A stack of books is in the corner, and the number of stray fliers have multiplied.

"This is Mark," Jaehyun says, holding up their joined hands. The other person, who is sitting in the corner, stirs at the movement.

"I'm Ten," he says to Mark. Ten points at the stranger. "That's Jaemin."

Jaemin is subdued, who watches Ten close the door with hooded eyes. He sits poised, legs crossed and hands folded in his lap. Mark hides from Jaemin using Jaehyun as a shield.

"So this is who the medicine is for," Ten muses as he scans Mark. "Mark, dear, what was wrong with you?"

Jaehyun feels a jolt of panic, scrambling to keep himself calm.

"I had chest pain," Mark tells Ten, lying smoothly. "Broken ribs as well...I was beaten up and not healing well."

Jaehyun recognizes the description as what Jaehyun had healed when they first met. Jaehyun silently applauds Mark's quick thinking; Mark even pouts slightly to emphasise his innocence.

Ten eyes Jaehyun, but doesn't say anything more. Jaehyun's grateful for Ten's discretion—saying  _ medicine _ instead of potion, and no mention of Jaehyun's witchery in front of the stranger.

"I take it you wanted to know more about us?" Jaemin asks. His voice is unexpectedly soft, much like the soft brown of his hair.

"I just wanted Mark to know about it," Jaehyun says. He's also silently hoping the movement, however small, will take note of Mark's existence and make it even harder for Taeyong or Kun to use Mark, or for the Witch Council to do anything against Mark.

"Well," Jaemin says, not moving from his chair. "Read the brochures."

Ten nods and smiles, sorting through the disarray and finding a couple, handing them to Mark. Before he takes it, Mark looks up at Jaehyun, unsure. Jaehyun doesn't react, so Mark takes them.

He skims them, Jaehyun reading over his shoulder. This one is about the cognitive abilities of hybrids, Jaehyun reads. The same brain structure, although many hybrids suffer ongoing physical effects of malnutrition. It also discusses the rates of mental illness observed in hybrids.

Mark looks confused by it, quickly moving on to the second. This one covers the statistics. The first one lists the rate of physical abuse at 78 percent. Mark's fingers tighten around the paper, and Jaehyun pulls the paper out of his grip before Mark can continue.

"What did I do to deserve this?" Mark's ears are drooping. If Mark has his tail out, it'd be between his legs. His blue eyes are flooded with what Jaehyun can only describe as despair.

"Nothing," Jaehyun says firmly before the other two can get a word out.

"I hate humans," is all Mark says, which makes Ten flinch. Jaehyun, thinking of everything humans have done to them both, can only agree.

* * *

Mark repeats these same words to Yuta the next time Yuta sees them. It gives him pause, analyzing Mark's downtrodden expression as he's curled up on the couch into Jaehyun's side, legs dangling off the couch.

"What happened?"

"So many like me. And we're treated like…" Mark trails off, burying his face in Jaehyun's side. "Is this what it's like? Jaehyun?"

"To be a witch?" Jaehyun asks. Mark nods. "Kind of," Jaehyun admits, "especially when someone asks us to give blood. I'd say being gay is worse, though."

Yuta snorts. "Oh yeah, at least some people think being supernatural is cool, and we get movies made about us."

Mark shudders. "My old owner made me act in a movie."

Both Jaehyun and Yuta fall silent, holding their breaths. Mark doesn't see the look the pair exchange. Mark hugs one of Jaehyun's legs with his own, clinging tighter to Jaehyun's shirt.

"It was gross," Mark mumbles to his silent audience. "I hated it. My owner said it'd be fun, or it'd be exercise."

Jaehyun knows enough to be able to piece together what happened. He runs a hand over Mark's back, trying to keep calm so the bond isn't sending anything  _ bad  _ to Mark. It's difficult, when Jaehyun wishes he could place all sorts of hexes and curses on the piece of shit—one quick at Yuta tells him he's not alone.

The temperature of the room is the same, save for the cold radiating off of Yuta and the frost developing on his arms. His jaw is clenched, hands called into tight fists to keep Yuta locked in place. Ice gathers around his temples, pretty in the light of the room but a thinly veiled sign of the  _ power _ Yuta holds.

"Please don't throw me away because of it," Mark begs Jaehyun, seemingly ignorant of the fury in the other two. "I'll do anything, please."

It's like they never developed at all—like Mark never learned to cling to Jaehyun when he's sad, like Mark never talked to Yuta for hours on end.

Jaehyun is not a violent man, but he  _ is _ a furious witch.

But for now his priority is Mark, and he hugs Mark, feeling the hybrid relax into him. Yuta reaches over, icy fingertips running through Mark's hair.

"You don't have to do anything for us," Jaehyun murmurs. "I promise."

"What about the humans I met today?" Mark's voice wavers precariously.

"If you never want to see them again, you won't," Jaehyun says firmly. "We'll keep looking."

"A-and the rights…? Mister Jaemin said having a hybrid talk about their experiences would help."

"Your health is a priority," Jaehyun insists, hoping Mark can feel the affection that he's pushing down the Familiar bond. The bond cannot lie to them. It breaks Jaehyun's heart that Mark doubts him—but he thinks he understands at least somewhat that Mark is hurting, and he needs all the time Jaehyun can give him.

Mark sniffles, and Yuta runs a hand over Mark's back soothingly, then scratches at his ears again.

"I'm scared of humans," Mark whispers. "And I don't know who to trust."

"We'll protect you," Jaehyun whispers back just as quietly. "I'll do anything to make sure nothing happens to you."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> jaehyun is starting to scheme


	10. Chapter 10

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> tw for jaehyun taking some of yuta's blood with a knife. its like, consensual (?) and for a spell !! idk if that needs a tw but just in case lol

His promise to Mark feels like a lie when he declares he has a Familiar to the Witching Court, sending away the paperwork. Mark  _ is _ his Familiar in every way except by recognition; Jaehyun is almost sure they'll be approved despite being the first, so long as they don't find out he owns Mark. Whatever the outcome, Jaehyun desperately wants to protect Mark, and this decision feels like he’s shoving Mark on the frontlines of a world war.

Jaehyun needs to do this before Mark is entered into the system. The paperwork for the human courts haven't been filed yet, and Jaehyun has been checking the status of it online regularly. He takes the plunge, deciding now is the only time and the pieces have fallen together. He thinks of the schemes Taeyong and Kun must have thought up to establish their power, and Jaehyun decides to emulate them.

The man Jaehyun was before meeting Mark is a stranger to Jaehyun now; he still dresses in the same way and his hair is still the same shade of black, but how he views the world has sharply shifted. He doesn’t know how much more he plans on changing (and can only hope Mark and Yuta will be there with him).

Jaehyun has been seeping magic out of the fur Kun gave him. It's potent, more than any other material Jaehyun has ever owned—it rivals the drops of Sungchan's blood Jaehyun kept, and his entire grimoire doesn't compete with what Jaehyun can do with Kun’s fur. With the magic Jaehyun has at his fingertips currently, he sets about devising a potion for Mark to drink.

It’s illegal, what Jaehyun is doing. He knows this as he brews a potion in a pot, mixing it vigorously. He shouldn’t be making a potion to induce a state in Mark that will trick any lie detector spells—but Jaehyun is already illegal, simply by existing. He doesn’t care at this point for whatever rules have been set in place. 

Not all of the magic has been taken out of Kun’s fur. Much of it is still trapped inside, probably in need of the full moon to finally seep out into the liquid Jaehyun has stored it in. What he does have is almost enough, and he sprinkles drops into the potion he’s making.

Mark watches nervously, but trust still thrums down the line of their Familiar bond. Yuta also stops by from time to time, claiming he’s doing so to make sure Mark is alive despite Jaehyun protesting that Jaehyun is in fact far more responsible than Yuta. Yuta’s last attempt at making dessert was proof enough of this.

“I think I need more,” Jaehyun thinks out loud, staring down at the dark brown soup he calls a ‘potion’. The potion is unnamed—not even a formal recipe, Jaehyun is simply merging various potions together, trying the potion at every step to make sure he doesn’t inadvertently create poison.

“More what?” Mark asks as he grabs a glass of water for himself.

“Magic,” Jaehyun replies grimly. “It’s meant to be lighter in colour, more of an orange.” That’s the colour his teachers had told him to never drink because of how it manipulates one’s soul. He glances at Mark. “I can’t use you or me, since we’re drinking it. It’d be like attached yellow wires to red.”

“So you’ll ask Yuta?” Mark takes a large gulp from his glass. He doesn’t question how Jaehyun can use him for something involving magic, an oversight Jaehyun counts his blessings for.

“I guess I’ll have to,” Jaehyun says, somewhat sheepishly. “I can’t ask the werewolves. I don’t want them to know, and I did lie to get my hands on the fur.”

“I thought Kun would know what happens to his fur,” Mark notes, now sitting on a stool at the counter. His tail is out and wagging when he looks at Jaehyun with blue eyes brimming with curiosity.

“Only if I hex it,” Jaehyun says. “If he can track it, and knows what I’m doing, then he’s the most powerful werewolf in the world.”

He takes out his phone, hesitating at the message screen. Mark watches him as Jaehyun begins messaging Yuta.

**[14:23] to: yuta**   
are u free? i have a favour to ask (again) lol

**[14:33] from: yuta**   
yes here i am, ten minutes later </3 srry i was busy

**[14:33] from: yuta**   
is this ~witch~ business?

**[14:33] to: yuta**   
haha yeah it is actually….i ran out of magic for the spell im doing….

**[14:33] from: yuta**   
oh fr...what do u need? hair?

**[14:33] to: yuta**   
i dont know how good ur hair is

**[14:34] to: yuta**   
because dye is contaminating the spell

Jaehyun mentally slaps himself at using the word  _ contaminate. _ But there’s no other way to put it, he tells himself as Yuta replies—it’s honesty, and he hopes Yuta won’t take it to heart.

**[14:35] from: yuta** **  
** so you need blood?? i can do that

**[14:36] to: yuta**   
yeah, blood will be best. if u can come over in the next few days, i can get some from u haha

**[14:37] from: yuta**   
give me like fifteen and i’ll be there!!

* * *

Yuta arrives with his hair pulled into a messy bun and a smile on his face. His roots have started to grow out, revealing black hair. His sleeves are pulled up to his elbows and showcases more tattoos on his skin; one of them is an intricately etched snowflake. Jaehyun squints to see what the Chinese characters are that are embedded in the snowflake. Probably Japanese, Jaehyun corrects himself, but he doesn’t really know the difference.

“You really like my tattoos,” Yuta says with amusement. “Where’s Mark?”

“Kitchen,” Jaehyun says, shaking himself out of his daze. “And yeah, I do. Sorry.”

“Don’t be. I did get them to be appreciated.” Yuta follows Jaehyun into the kitchen. Mark is still sitting at his place in the kitchen, typing on the phone Jaehyun bought him. Mark beams at Yuta when Yuta slings an arm around his shoulders, then resumes whatever the hell he’s doing.

“Have you taken someone’s blood before?” Yuta asks.

“Only my own,” Jaehyun admits, “and only with a knife.” Said knife is sitting on the kitchen counter, and Jaehyun gestures to it vaguely. Next to it is a plain white bowl.

“Uh huh,” Yuta doesn’t seem thrilled at the idea, and Jaehyun can’t fault him for that. “I hope you know I’m doing this because it’s  _ you  _ and Mark.”

Jaehyun smiles at the thought, nodding agreeably. “Of course,” Jaehyun chirps. He holds the knife in the pot of boiling water on the stove to sterilise it, Yuta sitting on a stool next to Mark.

“My wrist?” Yuta asks, to which Jaehyun nods. After a couple of minutes, give or take a few seconds, Jaehyun withdraws the knife and shuffles over to Yuta. He flicks water off the blade with a twitch of his wrist. Jaehyun slides the bowl over, takes Yuta’s left arm by the wrist and carefully slices at his skin, choosing a place that isn’t tattooed. As blood drips into the bowl, Yuta is dutifully looking away from the cut.

“You do this a lot?” Yuta asks, gaze on Mark’s profile.

“Yeah,” Jaehyun replies, glancing around to make sure the first aid kit is still on the counter close by. It is, and Jaehyun goes back to watching the red blood make a puddle in the bowl.

“He normally does it at night though, when I’m asleep,” Mark mumbles. Jaehyun doesn’t appreciate being told on like this.

“When he’s asleep?” Yuta asks, looking at Jaehyun in bemusement. Jaehyun flashes a sheepish grin at them.

“I didn’t know you knew,” he directs at Mark.

“I can smell the blood,” Mark explains. Jaehyun forgets Mark has an acute sense of smell. Mark sets his phone down on the counter, face up and in clear view of Jaehyun and Yuta. Yuta looks at the screen absently, then narrows his eyes as he focuses on the screen, his attention captured.

“Who’s Donghyuck?” Yuta asks the question lightly, but it makes an alarm go off in Jaehyun’s head. Trying to play it cool, Jaehyun arches an eyebrow at Mark as he reaches for the first aid kit.

“Yeah, who’s Donghyuck?” Jaehyun echoes as he pulls out a disinfecting wipe.

“Just someone,” Mark says nervously.

“Like an internet friend?” Jaehyun prods for more information as Yuta hisses at the sting of the wipe on his new wound. Jaehyun briefly smiles as an apology, carefully placing a bandage over it. Yuta runs a thumb along Jaehyun’s knuckles before shifting away.

“Yeah,” Mark nods. “We met on social media.”

Jaehyun is adding salt to Yuta’s blood when he pauses in his actions, then continues on as usual. He can feel Yuta’s eyes on his back when he asks, “are you posting much about yourself online?”

“No,” Mark says, “I don’t want people to know I’m a hybrid.”

Jaehyun also doesn’t want people to recognise Mark, either now or in the future. He expresses that much out loud, Yuta humming in agreement.

“Okay, I won’t post my face,” Mark says, sounding a little too meek for Jaehyun’s liking. Jaehyun finishes pouring the blood into the potion, then places the pot onto the heat, putting a lid on it. When he looks at Mark finally, Mark’s ears are drooping and Yuta has his arm around his shoulders again.

“Sorry,” Jaehyun says. “I just don’t want anyone to find you—if you want to meet Donghyuck, I’ll go with you.” Even though he thinks you shouldn’t go around meeting internet friends that you just met, he’s not about to crush Mark’s hope. Mark perks up at the prospect. 

“He lives in this city,” Mark says, cautiously hopeful.

“Do you know what he looks like?”

Mark nods vigorously. 

“You got a spell or something to track him?” Yuta asks.

“Yeah,” Jaehyun says. “Well actually, no. It’s illegal, so I’m not going to use it.”

Yuta props his chin up in his hand, elbow on the counter. Mark’s eyes are darting back and forth between the two, curious about the outcome.

“If you really want to meet him, you can,” Jaehyun tells Mark. After all, he’s not going to ban Mark from having  _ friends. _

* * *

The next lesson with Taeyong involves Sungchan, and Doyoung is nowhere to be seen. Jaehyun hopes he doesn’t cry again, the memory of the first lesson making his cheeks burn with shame.

Taeyong gives no indication that he ruined Jaehyun’s life last time. He sits in the same room, with Sungchan also seated at the table. Sungchan turns to look at Jaehyun when he enters, having let himself in.

“Hi,” Jaehyun greets Sungchan, who waves back. Jaehyun decides he likes Sungchan. He has no reason to  _ not _ like Sungchan, and the vampire is still young enough to remember what it’s like to be human. Unlike Taeyong, who has lived for long enough that Jaehyun is fairly certain he’s well removed from the memory of being mortal.

“No greeting for me?” Taeyong says with amusement as Jaehyun sits. Jaehyun, feeling extremely petty, only blinks at Taeyong innocently. Taeyong rolls his eyes, shrugging.

“We’re going to make you cast a spell,” Taeyong tells Jaehyun, expression becoming impassive. Jaehyun assumes that’s his teaching persona.

“I have some charms with me,” Jaehyun offers.

“Do you think vampires carry around charms?” Taeyong looks at Sungchan, who sighs and holds out his hands, palms upwards. Dark grey smoke trickles out of his fingertips. A nice party trick, and definitely not the work of any charm or potion.

“Sungchan needs to practice,” Taeyong tells Jaehyun. “He focuses too much on his physical strength.”

“All right.” Jaehyun has no idea if he can create smoke like that—he’s been told no witch can manifest magic in the way other supernatural creatures can. But he’s also been told hybrids don’t have magic, and that was a lie.

“Breathe in,” Taeyong instructs, “when you exhale, push magic out of your fingertips.”

Jaehyun mimics Sungchan and holds out his hands. His magic is easy to grab onto, a reflex similar to flexing his biceps. It’s more difficult to bring it to his hands when there’s no conduit in front of him; it’s nearly impossible for him to bring out through his skin and into the air.

He spends a few seconds trying to push it into air—but he can’t feel air in the same way he can feel his crystals or a spatula or grains of salt. But he can feel a breeze, so he impulsively blows on his fingers, feeling satisfied when grey smoke, one tinged a light red, begins leaking from his fingertips. Once it’s started, Jaehyun finds it’s easier to continue.

It’s a strange feeling, completely foreign to him. If he is to come up with a comparison, it’d be like crying tears from your cheekbones instead of your eyes. Taeyong and Sungchan watch Jaehyun as he carefully wiggles his fingers, then drums them on the table experimentally, all the while smoke is still blooming from his skin. Sometimes the smoke fails to leak out, but once Jaehyun has the sensation in mind, it’s easy to repeat it.

“You figured it out quicker than me,” Sungchan says in awe.

Jaehyun thinks of Sungchan’s blue-ringed red irises as he says, “I’ve been using magic my whole life. It’s just about the only thing I’m good at.”

“The red generally means fire,” Taeyong notes. “What are your parents' magic specialties?”

“My mother is water-based, and my father is cloud.”

Taeyong snorts. “And yet they raised a rule-abiding son like you? How strange.”

“Magic types don’t reflect the user’s personality,” Jaehyun snaps back. His parents possess magic types that are meant to promote a certain level of freedom and chaos, and yet Jaehyun is confined to a series of rules. He can see the hypocrisy, but the part of him longing to be the good son bristles at the criticism. His parents are trying to protect him, not hinder him.

“Let’s see those witches remember  _ that  _ when they discover your specialty,” Taeyong counters. Jaehyun flinches, the smoke abruptly stopping from his fingertips. Taeyong glances down at his hands, the flicker of a smirk giving away his satisfaction.

Sungchan’s fingers are still smoking, the young vampire seemingly intent on ignoring them. Jaehyun can’t blame him.

“What do you know of dark magic?” Taeyong asks, settling back in his chair. He’s like a king on a throne—which isn’t far from the level of power Taeyong has, Jaehyun reflects.

“Only what I was told growing up,” Jaehyun says. This gets both Taeyong’s and Sungchan’s attention.

“Tell us. I’m always interested in witch propaganda.”

“Dark magic infringes on one’s autonomy, and witches stand for autonomy in both body and mind,” Jaehyun all but recites, recalling the words of his teachers back in the United States. “Dark magic is assumed to feed off of life energy, which is forbidden. I was told all other supernatural creatures use dark magic.”

Taeyong smiles. His teeth are normal, except for being slightly too perfect.

“Life energy?” Sungchan asks, confused. “As in the soul?”

“Yeah,” Jaehyun nods in confirmation. “It’s more accurate to compare it to chakra, like in Naruto. But there have been scholars who think the soul and life energy are two different things.”

Taeyong taps a finger against his armrest. “Blood contains chakra,” he says to Sungchan.

Jaehyun frowns, confused. He’d been told using blood magic is a form of water magic, water being a natural amplifier of other magical qualities. Sungchan nods blood containing life energy as if this is common knowledge.

“You recently used blood in a spell,” Taeyong informs Jaehyun, “I can smell it on you.”

“How?”

“I’m a vampire,” Taeyong says drily. Jaehyun blushes a little. Taeyong continues, “it’s not the blood that sustains vampires, it’s the life energy. In Korean we call it  _ ki. _ ” Jaehyun nods, a little unsure. Taeyong’s expression flickers into something that seems almost pitying. “Blood is the most direct source of it. We don’t know why—there have been a few vampires who have fed off psychic energy, but for whatever reason this doesn’t go well.”

“So,” Jaehyun says slowly, “you’re telling me the witches are wrong?”

“Not wrong. It’s  _ propaganda _ . The highest order of witches are well aware of the misinformation they spread.”

Every time he meets Taeyong, he feels like he’s being overwhelmed by an onslaught of information. His world is breaking; Jaehyun just wants to be  _ normal, _ for crying out loud, not caught up in a mess of lies and politics.

“Then what is dark magic?” Jaehyun asks, frustrated. Sungchan keeps his head down.

“There’s nothing  _ dark _ about it,” Taeyong says, not unkindly. “It’s more accurate to describe it as magic, in a very broad sense. It’s not a type, and it’s not something that can be specialised in. All dark magic refers to is the difference between a witch who can only make charms, and a witch who doesn’t need those charms.” Taeyong looks meaningfully at Jaehyun’s hands.

“I don’t understand. Why would witches be afraid of dark magic then? If the only difference between me and them is that I can manifest a spell rather than using a charm. Isn’t it more efficient?” Jaehyun can feel his mind racing to catch up, but it’s like a toddler trying to race an Olympic athlete.

“Like I said, it’s propaganda. A grimoire is a set of spells the council can control, and you’re discouraged from straying outside of that. If you don’t need a grimoire, and you find out you can do  _ anything, _ you might find yourself learning something about this world no one wants you to know.”

“Learn what?” Jaehyun asks, scared to hear the answer.

Taeyong only looks at Jaehyun with sad eyes. “That’s something that I think is better for you to learn yourself.”

* * *

Jaehyun stares down at the photo of this ‘Donghyuck’ with great suspicion.

There’s nothing  _ suspicious _ about it to warrant the scrutiny. He seems normal enough. Tan skin and a bright smile, a stream of professional dance videos and photos of him and other people on his feed, all inevitably with every third or fourth item having Donghyuck clinging onto someone. He is, by all appearances, a very human and normal boy.

He looks through his friends’ pages as well. He feels creepy doing this; they’re fresh out of high school, if their graduation photos are anything to go by. Probably a year younger or so younger than Mark, he finds nothing strange in the others’ feed as well.

Then he comes across one friend in particular. He recognises Jaemin’s face almost immediately, and Jaemin is linked arm-in-arm with Donghyuck. Jaehyun stares at it for a moment, then calls for Mark.

“Donghyuck knows Jaemin,” Jaehyun tells Mark when Mark sits by Jaehyun on the couch in their living room. Mark leans into Jaehyun, peering down at the photo Jaehyun is showing him.

“Is that a good thing?” Mark asks.

“Probably,” Jaehyun says slowly, “assuming the hybrid rights’ movement group is legitimate.”

“It might not be?” Mark is alarmed by that.

“It probably is,” Jaehyun hastily reassures him. “I looked that up too, and it all seems to add up. I think Donghyuck won’t mind that you’re a hybrid.”

“I hope not,” Mark says, tail starting to wag. “I want to be his friend.”

Jaehyun doesn’t mention Ten is connected to Qian Kun. Jaehyun has to wonder how much Ten has told Jungwoo and the others at the bookstore about who he really is, and if Jaemin  _ knows. _

* * *

Donghyuck is waiting at a table inside the agreed-upon cafe, near the entrance. It means a quick getaway is easier for Mark, Jaehyun thinks. He’d called Yuta beforehand to tell him, and since Yuta is free at this time, he’d agreed to show. Jaehyun spots Yuta a few seats down, pretending to drink coffee.

Maybe this is overkill, Jaehyun thinks. But this is also a big deal—after everything Mark has been through, Jaehyun doesn’t want another bad experience with humans. And Mark was at some point linked to the criminal world, which may decide to drag Mark back into its clutches.

This  _ isn’t  _ overkill, Jaehyun decides as they take a moment outside on the curb, where Mark bites a fingernail nervously. He’s doing this because he loves Mark.

“Do you want to call this off?” Jaehyun asks, a hand on Mark’s elbow.

“No,” Mark all but whispers, “I just don’t want him to hate me.”

“I’ll be right there,” Jaehyun tells Mark firmly. “I can go with you if you want. Introduce you to him.”

“But that’s weird, isn’t it? No one does that in movies.”

“It’s not weird,” Jaehyun says, shaking his head. “And if he thinks it is and doesn’t like it, then he’s not that great. There are better people out there.”

This seems to encourage Mark, because Mark straightens and removes his hand from his mouth, sighing. His tail is tucked away into his trousers but his ears are out for the world to see.

“Okay, I can do this,” Mark says to himself. Then he wilts again slightly. “Actually, can you come with me? And do the introduction like you said?”

“Of course I can,” Jaehyun says calmly. Mark looks at Jaehyun with shining eyes, and Jaehyun makes the executive decision to lead the way. He can sense Mark following him, and blatantly ignores the occasional dirty look he’s sent, hoping to God Mark doesn’t notice.

Jaehyun approaches the table where Donghyuck is, the other boy looking up and squinting at them as they get closer. Jaehyun doesn’t know if Mark has told Donghyuck he’ll be arriving with another person, so he wonders how much explaining he’ll have to do.

“Hello,” Jaehyun says easily, stopping just short of Donghyuck’s table. “Are you Donghyuck?”

“Yes,” Donghyuck says cautiously, clearly expecting someone who doesn’t look like Jaehyun. “Are you Mark?”

“No,” Jaehyun tells him, seeing the confusion and caution slip onto his face with greater intensity. “I’m Jaehyun. This is Mark.” He gestures to Mark, who is half-hiding behind Jaehyun. Donghyuck visibly leans to one side to see Mark, taking the dog ears wordlessly.

“Hi, Mark,” Donghyuck says brightly, mood obviously changing when he sees Mark, who probably looks closer to the age Donghyuck was expecting. Mark has tugged the sleeves of his hoodie down over his hands, and he waves at him nervously.

“Sit,” Donghyuck says, pointing to the seat across from him. He glances at Jaehyun, “you can too.”

So they do. Jaehyun eyes Donghyuck who sits diagonally across from him, noting how he does the same. It’s probably more of that hybrid-owner label Jaehyun is being slapped with, which in this case feels good. It means Donghyuck  _ knows _ what goes on in this world.

“My friends call me Haechan,” Donghyuck says. “So Mark, you can call me that.” Jaehyun assumes he’s being excluded from the category of ‘friends’.

“Haechan,” Mark trys out, a little timid. Donghyuck beams at Mark, a megawatt smile. Donghyuck then goes about talking to Mark with an air of casualness Jaehyun definitely didn’t have a few years ago. Mark mentions he’s from Canada and Donghyuck praises him; Mark drinks from the Americano Donghyuck got him, wrinkling his nose at the unfamiliar taste. Jaehyun flicks some sugar packets to Mark as Donghyuck coos at how cute Mark is.

Jaehyun excuses himself to the restroom. He passes by Yuta, who gives him a questioning look. Jaehyun grins at Yuta, a silent signal that it all is going well. Yuta gives Jaehyun a relieved expression.

When he returns, he hears the tailend of their conversation.

“... _ sure _ he’s not like, a creep?”

“I’m sure,” Mark is saying hotly when Jaehyun approaches the table. Donghyuck glances at Jaehyun then quickly averts his eyes. Mark is staring up at Jaehyun, and Jaehyun quickly puts two and two together and guesses he was the topic of their conversation.

“Mark?” Jaehyun asks. “Is everything all right?”

“I want to go home,” Mark says plaintively, making Donghyuck look disappointed.

“If you want,” Jaehyun tells him steadily. “But you shouldn’t end a day like this with a fight.”

Mark flicks a look at Donghyuck. He looks so cute when he’s irritated, Jaehyun thinks, amused and glad it’s not at him.

“ _ Maybe this time we should leave with a fight, _ ” Mark mutters in English. Jaehyun sits down next to Mark.

“ _ Was he accusing me of using you sexually?” _

_ “Yes, _ ” Mark glares at the table. “ _ Why can’t he believe me when I say that you don’t? We don’t even share a bed but he kept insisting that I’m being used. The only time you get horny is when Yuta is around, which is gross but that’s the kind of thing I signed up for I guess. _ ”

Jaehyun winces at the mention. He’d been trying to suppress it, but the Familiar bond is clearly a little too strong.

“ _ Ha, _ ” Jaehyun says drily. “ _ But it’s a valid concern, don’t you think? I’d question any hybrid owner as well. It means he’s a good person. _ ”

Mark sighs loudly and dramatically, slumping in his chair. “ _ I know I’m being immature, _ ” he complains, kicking his feet along the ground. Donghyuck sits quietly, his lack of reaction implying he doesn’t know enough English to follow the conversation.

“ _ I hate how you’re right, _ ” Mark grumbles. In Korean, he says to Donghyuck, “I know you’re looking out for me, but Jaehyun  _ is _ a good person to me. He’s helped me a lot when he would’ve been in his right to hand me to a shelter.”

“I’m sorry for pushing the issue,” Donghyuck says honestly. Mark stares for a moment. Apparently he can’t keep a grudge for long, because he sighs and smiles slightly.

“Okay, you’re forgiven.” Mark and Donghyuck shake hands. They spend at least another hour talking, Jaehyun tuning them.

When they get home, Mark messages Donghyuck throughout the evening. Every time Donghyuck makes Mark laugh, Jaehyun can feel his own happiness grow with it.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> this chapter is 4k+ words long. my longest yet lol
> 
> also i had a whole end note written out. it went over the 5k character limit and was all worldbuilding....all the magic explained in it....but i don't want to cut it down to size so i'll probably make a doc or smth, or maybe never share it. haha........
> 
> the most important part of the notes was that: chakra was used to explain it to sungchan, jaehyun thinking that because chakra was used in naruto, it's more widespread in the mainstream. but life energy, which would more accurately be called 'vital energy', is qi/chi/ki and is the vital life force of living beings.
> 
> [twitter](https://twitter.com/valentinehoax) and [curiouscat](https://curiouscat.qa/yutaprints)


	11. Chapter 11

Kun is still as scary as ever. Like last time, Yangyang was sent to retrieve Jaehyun, and Jaehyun obediently followed. And like last time, Kun comes out to see Jaehyun in the entrance hall, where Jaehyun stands awkwardly.

This time Kun examines Jaehyun expressionlessly, and Jaehyun wonders if he’s going to see Kun wear a new expression each time he stops by. Jaehyun adjusts the bag slung on his shoulder nervously, before Kun sighs.

“I need to talk to you about something after the lesson,” Kun says. Jaehyun nods, and Yangyang drags him past Kun into what looks to be a dining room. The table and chairs are bare save for their occupants, and the walls are lined with paintings and charcoal drawings, leaving almost no space bare.

“Hi,” Dejun says weakly when Yangyang deposits Jaehyun in the seat opposite Dejun and next to Sicheng. Yangyang takes a seat next to Dejun and opposite Sicheng.

“Morning,” Jaehyun greets them all, putting his bag in his lap and taking out three empty grimoires. “I got grimoires, as promised.”

Yangyang lets out a _whoop_ of joy and grabs one, Dejun taking one next, and Sicheng carefully holding his like it will burn him. Yangyang flips his grimoire open and breezes through the empty pages.

“How do they work?” Sicheng asks, putting his on the table.

“I teach you a spell, and it will show up, basically.” Jaehyun shrugs. “When you get used to it, you’ll be able to put your own spells into one too. I just have to link you to them.”

“Link?” Yangyang asks, frowning. “Sounds painful.”

“It’s not,” Jaehyun assures them. “You just have to put your magic into one.”

This calms Yangyang and Sicheng but Dejun’s shoulders tense. Jaehyun remembers what happened last time, and reaches back into his bag, taking out a bottle the size of his pinky. He hands it to Dejun, who takes it with a great deal of confusion.

“It promotes magic flow if you rub a small amount into your fingertips each night,” Jaehyun explains. “It should help. I used it as a child when I couldn’t make charms properly.”

“Oh.” Dejun pops open the cork, then pauses. “Can I use it now?”

“I said each night,” Jaehyun chides with a grin. “Or at least before you go to sleep. It’s the best way.”

With a drawn out sigh, Dejun puts the cork back in. Jaehyun can relate to Dejun's impatience, but he hopes Dejun understands it's for his health and the best way to cultivate his magic.

The lesson passes by quickly. Jaehyun helps each of them link to their grimoires by channeling their magic through the pages. Yangyang claps when he's done, Sicheng remaining silently suspicious, and Dejun breaks out in a smile; Dejun had taken the longest, Jaehyun coaxing the magic out of Dejun's fingertips, but eventually Dejun also linked to his grimoire.

"Where did you get these?" Yangyang asks.

"I have a few," Jaehyun lies. "When one's full, we just start a new one." It's technically _true_ witches have multiple, but Jaehyun only had one spare. He had used an illegal spell to multiply his spare grimoire—another crime to add to the list of reasons why the Witching Council will hate him. All those lessons spent teaching him what is illegal have been turned on its head.

Sicheng's grimoire is already becoming filled with spells, Jaehyun notes. He watches ink scrawl itself on the pages, signs that Sicheng knows spells. They appear in Chinese characters, so Jaehyun has no idea what it says. Dejun takes a look, and then rolls his eyes. Jaehyun decides it may be better for him to be ignorant based on Dejun's apparent disdain.

"Jaehyun," Dejun says as Yangyang runs off, yelling something about his gaming account and Kunhang ruining his score. "Are you a full witch?"

"Yes," Jaehyun replies, taken aback.

"Oh," Dejun says vaguely. "And you have a pet hybrid?"

"Yes." Jaehyun wonders if Dejun can sense Mark on him, or something. He should work on some kind of suppressant to hide Mark's presence.

"Oh," Dejun repeats. He's looking everywhere except Jaehyun, Sicheng watching the two of them carefully. Jaehyun gets the idea Sicheng doesn't trust Jaehyun (which is fair enough, since witches haven't been the _kindest_ towards other species).

"Can I ask why you have dark magic then?" Dejun asks. When Jaehyun doesn't react to that, only staring blankly, Dejun rushes to explain himself. "I felt it when you checked my magic flow. Sorry, I didn't mean to ask anything too shocking."

"It's fine," Jaehyun says, recovering his wits. "Yeah, I have dark magic. I was just born like this." And still heavily in denial, and he's hoping he can change it by drinking some kind of potion, but the signs are currently pointing to _no._ What good is magic if he can't even change something as basic as his magic type?

"Have you told anyone?" Jaehyun asks off-handedly. He tries to play it cool, although he can't disguise the undercurrent of anxiety in his voice.

Dejun squirms in his seat. Sicheng is watching Dejun sadly.

"I told Kun," Dejun admits. Jaehyun counts to three in his head so he doesn't burst from stress.

"Okay," Jaehyun says amicably. "Kun actually wants to speak to me after this lesson. I was wondering what this was all about."

Jaehyun appears to take it well, and this relaxes Dejun. Jaehyun never thought of himself as being scary or anything, but maybe he's considered intimidating to Dejun; the thought worries Jaehyun slightly, who thinks of himself as being approachable. He justifies this by brushing it aside as a mixture of species difference, cultural misunderstandings, and a base anxiety.

"It's weird though," Jaehyun comments. Dejun tenses again.

"What is?" Sicheng asks when it looks like Jaehyun won't elaborate.

"That you could feel my magic type," Jaehyun explains. "Witches have to use a crystal ball to detect it, and there's a whole ceremony around it and everything. Even when I push my magic into someone else—like when I heal someone, or with my parents when we make a potion together— _they_ can't detect anything."

Dejun and Sicheng look at each other with confusion.

"So then how do you find werewolves?" Sicheng asks.

Jaehyun blinks at Sicheng, joining in their confusion. "What?"

"How _did_ you find werewolves," Sicheng corrects himself. "You just...waited until they transformed, or something?"

"I don't get what you mean," Jaehyun says slowly, frantically trying to recall everything he knows about his own culture. He's scrambling for information that he simply doesn't have. "Witches have never _found_ werewolves. There's only two known cases of werewolves put on trial in the Witches' Institution, but it's because they outed themselves."

Sicheng looks frustrated at that answer. Dejun whispers something to Sicheng in Chinese, and Sicheng hisses something back, pointing at his head. It's clear to Jaehyun they're calling him stupid. He can't be stupid for something he was never taught, he thinks, feeling as equally frustrated as Sicheng's rapid words and gestures are conveying. It's probably more witch propaganda, as Taeyong would put it.

It's then that Yangyang chooses to reenter the room with his usual smile of blindingly white teeth. It doesn't falter even when his eyes dart around the three of them, giving away that he probably heard all of it. He doesn't offer any enlightenment to Jaehyun.

"Kun- _ge_ wants to see you now," Yangyang tells Jaehyun. "He's waiting in the living room. Y'know, where you first met."

Jaehyun nods, standing up and brushing himself clean of imaginary dust. As he leaves, he can hear Sicheng say something with amusement. He hopes it's not a curse.

* * *

Kun—Qian Kun, leader of the pack and easily one of the top-ranked werewolves in this region—is staring at Jaehyun with a thoughtful look from a throne of precariously stacked cushions. Jaehyun can't quite wrap his mind around his life. He started off as an ordinary witch, trying to blend as well as he could with human society, and now he's entangled in a web of inter-supernatural politics and a hybrid rights movement with a death penalty hovering over his head.

"I can smell vampire smoke on you," Kun tells Jaehyun. "It's a very specific style of magic. Did you learn that from Taeyong?"

"Yes," Jaehyun says, feeling vulnerable under Kun's searching gaze as Kun looks down, literally, on Jaehyun. Kun blinks, then sighs, coming to some kind of decision without Jaehyun's input.

"I'm going to teach you werewolf magic," Kun says. Jaehyun has to seriously question how he's ended up in this situation.

"Why?"

Kun bares his teeth in a mock-smile, and Jaehyun can see his canines are just slightly longer than normal. Jaehyun checks the lunar calendar in his mind to see if the full moon is close, only to conclude it isn't.

"There's a couple of reasons," Kun says. "Firstly, I do wonder if a witch will be able to shapeshift. It should be possible." Kun gives Jaehyun a once-over. "Secondly, I don't want that bastard Taeyong to have anything over me, and sadly you're now a pawn of our little game."

As if Jaehyun doesn't already know this, but he keeps quiet. He put himself in this position, and it's working wonderfully.

"Thirdly, and I think most importantly to _you._ " he fixes Jaehyun with a stern gaze. For the first time Jaehyun thinks he can understand why Yangyang—and the others—are filled with obvious affection for Kun. Kun looks genuinely concerned when he says, "you need all the help you can get against the Witches. I would know this well; even though you are still technically one of _them,_ you also have the unfortunate curse of being born a certain way. Given I'm the defacto leader of a ragtag group living here, I like to think I have an obligation."

"You don't have to though," Jaehyun objects. "I can learn by myself, I'm sure there are teachings on how to shapeshift."

"And if you do?" Kun asks. "You turn into a wolf, and you go feral, who will stop you? Your pet hybrid?"

Jaehyun hadn't thought of that, and now he feels guilty. He nearly brought a heavy responsibility onto Mark's shoulders.

"I know you're also liaising with someone who is not from the peninsula," Kun tells Jaehyun. When he sees the panic, he waves his hand through the air as if to dissipate it. "No, don't worry, I know only because I'm more accustomed to picking up on it. I don't know why, but they seem unexpectedly powerful."

Powerful? Jaehyun assumes he means Yuta, as Yuta's the only person who isn't from the Korean peninsula that he's come into contact with _and_ can be described as powerful. He remembers his dream from nights ago, of Yuta standing in snow and quite blatantly rejecting Jaehyun. Jaehyun wonders how true it is, and how much Kun knows.

"I'm going to teach you the first part of werewolf magic today. It's what I first taught Yangyang when he came to me."

The offer crashes into Jaehyun out of nowhere, like when Mark jumps onto his bed because there's someone at the door. It sinks in that he now has two teachers. He mentions as much to Kun, who raises an eyebrow at Jaehyun.

"You should get your foreign friend to teach you some," Kun tells him. Jaehyun wonders if this is an order, and if Taeyong is fine with this.

Not that he cares about what Taeyong thinks, or what Kun thinks. He just wants more _skill_. Jaehyun put himself in this position when he chose to saunter into the territories of Taeyong and Kun, and now he's reaping the rewards.

"All right," Jaehyun agrees. "I can do that."

Kun slides off his high perch, landing lightly on the ground and then sitting casually in the seat next to Jaehyun on the couch. Instinctively, Jaehyun flinches at how close Kun is, recalling the feeling of his hand around Jaehyun's throat. Kun pays Jaehyun no mind as he picks up Jaehyun's wrist between his index finger and thumb.

Kun blows out, and there's a rush of static across Jaehyun's arm, travelling up to his neck. Jaehyun holds as still as he can, feeling a strange invasive force begin trickling into his body from where Kun is touching him. His hand spasms as Kun circles the rest of his fingers around Jaehyun's forearm, then squeezes.

The _force_ feels feverishly hot and blisteringly cold at the same time. Jaehyun's body shudders to try and regulate his temperature, the force—energy or whatever—pushing into his chest and unravelling there. Jaehyun doesn't want to call it magic; this kind of power feels like a bastardised version of what _magic_ is, and makes a mockery of the kind magic Jaehyun knows from his parents.

He leans back into the backrest of the couch, glancing at Kun in his daze. Kun's blue hair is hiding his eyes, but Jaehyun can clearly see the forced smile on Kun's face.

"Almost," Kun whispers as the energy trickles down into Jaehyun's limbs, expanding until he can _feel_ it everywhere. Kun's grip tightens as the energy settles down inside Jaehyun like a second skin. When Kun is seemingly satisfied, he releases Jaehyun, looking pale.

"There," Kun says with a wooden expression. "That magic will stay there for the next week or so and prime your body for transformation."

Jaehyun can't move for a movement. When he manages to straighten where he sits, he can feel a strange _sloshing_ sensation under his skin, like he's gained a layer of water for a second skin.

It's uncomfortable, to say the least. He isn't sure he can make it home. Kun notices this about him, and he blows out violently. More static erupts across Jaehyun's skin, and Jaehyun is momentarily scared that the energy will be worsened.

But it's not. He hears a crashing sound from the dining room, and Yangyang bursts in a few seconds later, his usual wide grin plastered on his face.

"Jaehyun," Yangyang says cheerfully, "time to go home. I'll help you."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> i'm glad i got this chapter out before the end of feb yay


	12. Chapter 12

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> cw for vomit mention

Jaehyun is sitting hunched over in his lecture, ears buzzing with white noise. He can barely see the slides being projected, his professor's droning voice drilling into his brain randomly. When he looks down, he can't see what he's written in his notes, his scribbled handwriting fuzzing around the edges. His vision wavers in and out, struggling to focus.

Kun's energy—or magic, because they are one and the same—has settled badly inside him. The energy feels like a sock that's slid uncomfortably in his shoe and exposed his skin to thorns, except the feeling is _all over_ his body and underneath his skin. It's poisoned, draining him of his strength; the past few days have been hellish, Jaehyun barely able to keep up with his routine. Several people have already offered to help him when he's hobbling between lectures.

He's sure Mark knows what's happening through the Familiar bond despite his best efforts to hide it. The danger lies in that Jaehyun is worried the energy will try to drain Mark as well. His own magic is being depleted into Kun's energy, making it nearly impossible for Jaehyun to perform any significant magic spells.

As soon as the professor lets them leave the lecture hall, Jaehyun stumbles to his feet, stuffing his notebook and pen into his bag and ducking out the back exit. He can feel his shirt sticking to his body and his feet have gone numb. His fingers twitch uncontrollably.

Jaehyun looks enough of a mess to have people shift aside for him, the exiting crowd making way for someone the humans probably think is drunk or high. Jaehyun doesn't care about them, running to the bathroom. He slams into a stall, ignoring the only other occupant there, and promptly vomits his lunch into the toilet bowl.

Once he's emptied his stomach, knees against the cold tiles, he stares blankly into space to process. After a quick regathering of wits, he wipes his lips with toilet paper and flushes it down the bowl. The other occupant has long since left by now when Jaehyun reemerges from the stall. Jaehyun splashes his face with cold water, also rinsing out his mouth. The cold offers him a moment of clarity before it is drowned out by nausea again. Thankfully his vision has cleared, and he stares at his reflection in the dirty mirror, taking comfort in the drops of water rolling down his skin.

He's not really sure why this is happening. Magic-draining usually presents itself as fatigue. The nausea is common amongst those who are reliant on their magic for their life—Yuta, as a yuki-onna, must always have a some magic in order to maintain a human form. For Jaehyun, magic is a tool, but not necessary to his existence.

He can only assume Kun's energy is forcing some kind of shift as they near closer to the full moon. From what Jaehyun knows, werewolves shift because of their energy being driven wild by an 'infection'—has Jaehyun's magic been contaminated with the same infection?

His phone is vibrating madly in his pocket. Jaehyun lets his bag hit the floor which he'd been dragging it around this whole time to checks who it is. The display name says Johnny. Not the first person he'd call for this kind of emergency, but at least he knows Johnny will have the decency to not pry.

"Mark said you were hurt," Johnny says as soon as Jaehyun presses the phone to his ear, Johnny not waiting for a greeting, "Is that true?"

"Yeah." Jaehyun's voice is a croak. "I'm sick."

"Dude," the one syllable is enough to convey a world of concern. "I'll give you a ride home instead of you walking, all right? Where are you?"

Jaehyun tells Johnny which lecture block and bathroom he's in. He waits for a few minutes until Johnny comes crashing through the door, spotting Jaehyun, who is now slumped on the ground.

"Hey," Jaehyun greets him like they've met up for a study session, pre-Mark adoption. Johnny sighs. Jaehyun holds out his arms and Johnny hoists Jaehyun to his feet easily, also grabbing his bag.

"You look a wreck," Johnny mumbles as Jaehyun manages to stand, using Johnny's arm to steady himself. "Were you out drinking or something?"

"No," Jaehyun groans as they head out of the bathroom. By now the corridors were empty. "I think I have some kind of flu. It should pass in a few days, I just need to rest. It was stupid to go to uni."

Johnny hums an affirmative. "Mark's all right as well, yeah?"

"Yeah." The cold air outside is a shock to Jaehyun's system, waking him up temporarily. When he slides into Johnny's passenger seat, he can feel the energy leap up again, bringing with it a wave of nausea.

"Don't be sick in my car," Johnny warns as he turns the key to start the car, then presses a button to roll down Jaehyun's window.

Jaehyun barely acknowledges the fresh air, feeling his world shift around him. Apparently a side effect is also losing track of time, because the next time Jaehyun blinks he's outside his house, with Johnny opening his car door. Jaehyun lets Johnny haul him out of the car, Jaehyun's bag over Johnny's shoulder. Mark rushes out to greet them, staying behind the fence and instantly shoving himself under Jaehyun's other arm to help him as soon as they pass through the gate.

They deposit Jaehyun on the couch. Mark hovers anxiously until Johnny tells him to get medicine. Mark nods, scrambling away. Jaehyun can't exactly tell Johnny the painkillers won't work, but then again, it might help take the edge off.

Mark returns with a glass of water and a couple of pills that Jaehyun swallows down. Johnny is patting Jaehyun's shoulder as he talks softly to Mark, who murmurs a reply. Jaehyun doesn't have the energy to pay attention, especially when they're talking in English.

Eventually Johnny starts moving around. Jaehyun has no idea what he's doing, but he can hear Mark's slippered feet shuffling in the kitchen; hopefully Mark is hiding anything incriminating.

"We'll be fine," Jaehyun hears Mark say to Johnny, sounding too calm for the situation. "Yuta messaged to say he's coming over in an hour. You need to go to work, right?"

"Right," is the short answer, and the pair's voices are muffled by distance as they head to the front door. Jaehyun lets himself slip into sleep as soon as the front door closes.

* * *

"Hey." Yuta is sitting beside Jaehyun on the couch. He sets down his phone to examine Jaehyun's face as he stirs, opening his eyes slowly.

The living room is dimly lit. The curtains have been drawn and there's a single lamp to light the room; the clock across the room reads 10PM. Jaehyun rubs an eye, taking this time to lean on Yuta's sleeveless arm. Despite Yuta being a spirit of the snow, he warms Jaehyun's side more than the blanket thrown over him.

"Mark went to bed," Yuta says. "You still haven't bought another bed, by the way. Mark said you've been sleeping on the couch still. That's not good for your back."

Jaehyun mumbles an acknowledgement. He places a hand on his abdomen, sensing the energy inside of him as a heavy weight in the pit of his stomach. It's uncomfortable but no longer painful, and the nausea has subsided.

A hand cards through his hair, and Jaehyun is nearly lulled back into sleep with that alone. Yuta is humming a tune Jaehyun doesn't recognise. As his mind fades back into sleep, the last thing he sees is Yuta watching Jaehyun with fondness. Jaehyun hopes he dreams a sweet dream of Yuta.

* * *

Jaehyun wakes in the morning with an empty stomach and an absent Yuta. His body is stiff from his position on the couch, and he stretches to smooth out his joints. There's loud talking from the kitchen, Jaehyun straining to overhear what's being said. He can hear Mark's distinctive laugh, Yuta's voice, and who he thinks must be Yangyang chiming in.

He gets to his feet and stumbles into the kitchen, where he finds the three of them in a state of chaos. Yangyang is scraping charred... _something_ off the bottom of the sink with his hair sticking up randomly, Mark is covered in white powder (although no other surface is coated), and Yuta is holding a pan at arm's length over the stove as the oil bubbles and pops. All three freeze comically when Jaehyun walks in.

"I was sick for one night," Jaehyun tells them, putting his hands on his hips. "And you ruin my kitchen?"

As if to divert his attention, Mark points to the bench where there's a letter. "The government responded," he says helpfully.

Jaehyun sighs, ripping the envelope open unceremoniously and reading it over. "You're registered," Jaehyun says to Mark, "you have the legal status of an owned hybrid and Familiar."

Mark grins, looking strangely ghostly. He shakes his head and flour flies off of his head. Jaehyun is pleased his charm worked.

"That's a good thing?" Yangyang asks, pausing in his cleaning with a strange look on his face.

"Yeah," Mark says, bouncing on his heels. His tail is a blur of movement. "That means we're one step off me being like, an actual person."

"Oh right," Yangyang says, "the witches." A flicker of disgust then indifference overcomes his face before it's pushed back down. Jaehyun can't fault him for the reaction, but he doesn't like it.

"Cooking is hard," Yuta announces, setting the pan back down. "Jaehyun, can you take over?"

Jaehyun does. He doesn't complain about being put to work as soon as he's awake and he ignores the discomfort under his skin. He manages to salvage what he can, thinking he should've listened to his parents' cooking advice more carefully when he had the chance back home.

Once they've all taken their places at the table and started eating—Yangyang eating the most by far, especially the meat—Yuta fixes Jaehyun with a stare.

"So what was the sickness about?" Yuta sounds reproachful. "Did the damn—I mean, did the werewolves or the vampires do something?"

"He smells different," Mark comments off-handedly. Yangyang sniffs the air and nods to himself. Jaehyun probably reeks of Kun, but his nose isn't sensitive enough to pick up any change.

"Qian Kun is giving me lessons," Jaehyun says cautiously, not wanting to upset Yuta, "about transformation. It's physical magic."

Yuta raises an eyebrow at Jaehyun as Yangyang kicks Mark under the table, Mark giggling in response. Jaehyun sighs through his nose, swallowing.

"So you won't be needing actual spells soon. No more grimoire." Yuta says it with a satisfied gleam in his eyes.

"I suppose," Jaehyun replies. "I don't know how it'll affect my magic though. This is practically unprecedented. I'm probably the only witch who bothers." He can't hide an edge of bitterness creep into his voice.

"Or the witches are hiding information," Yuta points out with one cheek stuffed full. As much as he doesn't like the implication, Jaehyun has to admit Yuta has a point. It's safe to assume that as a certainty at this point; the more Jaehyun interacts with non-witches, the more he's coming to find his people aren't so kind after all.

"Of course they are." Yangyang slides into their conversation with ease, his good humour gone. The stoniness to his expression is far too mature for someone so young. He should be chasing after dreams or trying to graduate, not dealing with...whatever Jaehyun's situation is. "Witches went into hiding years ago. Even if they're known and kind of accepted by the public now, they're putting up walls of bureaucracy to protect themselves with."

The acid in Yangyang's voice makes Jaehyun bristle despite his own misgivings about Witches. "We're protecting our _people,_ " Jaehyun argues, "by writing our words down and maintaining a community worldwide. It's not our fault all the rest of you are too busy fighting each other like animals."

The temperature of the room plummets. Mark is completely still, ears flat against his head. Yangyang doesn't seem to feel the cold Yuta is emitting, his lips stretched back to reveal sharp white teeth. Yuta, for his part, is still calmly eating and shows no outward sign of displeasure despite the cold.

"You witches pushed the rest of us down to elevate yourselves," Yangyang spits out like he's depositing a corpse at Jaehyun's feet. He shoves his plate away from him. It slides across the table and past Mark, crashing into the floor. Jaehyun ignores the mess of food scraps and broken cutlery.

"We just had the good sense to announce our presence civilly," Jaehyun says hotly, his breath fogging in the cold. "Unlike you fools, who can't even learn to pick up a pen to write a simple constitution to create law."

Yangyang lunges across the table at Jaehyun in a flurry of clawed fingers and bared teeth, the witch throwing up an arm to repel the attack. His other hand balls into a fist and slams into Yangyang's chest, his fingers leaking black smoke.

Yangyang barely flinches at the impact of Jaehyun's fist, barreling forward until his jaw latches onto Jaehyun's arm. Jaehyun curses, kicking out at Yangyang and raising a hand to slap Yangyang-

-Until arms wrap around Jaehyun's waist, squeezing tight. Panic is flooding Jaehyun's system, although it's not his own; when the arms tighten even more, restricting Jaehyun's breathing, he becomes lucid enough to recognise the arms as belonging to Mark.

The hybrid's eyes are screwed shut, a whimper from his throat as his head is buried into Jaehyun's side. When he senses Jaehyun's stillness, he carefully opens one eye, a bright blue eye peering upwards to measure Jaehyun's emotion and seeing only the astonishment written across Jaehyun's expression.

Yangyang, on his side, is in Yuta's embrace. Yuta is draped over Yangyang's back, arms around his neck. Yangyang's stopped moving, hands loosely tugging at Yuta's arms like he wants to be set free. But that's not what has his attention.

Yuta's face is white, without pigmentation, like fresh snowfall; the red of his hair is shocking in contrast. His neck is streaked with black, the tattoos now gone, and his eyes are hollow shells without light. Jaehyun's eyes meet his, and Yuta smiles, his teeth are black and glistening.

"Yuta?"

Mark's voice is shaky. It's enough to capture Yuta's attention, who looks at Mark with almost a predatory gaze. (As much as Jaehyun _likes_ Yuta, he will always put Mark first. Jaehyun readies for a round two.)

Red blush blossoms on Yuta's cheeks, and the colour spreads so life returns to Yuta's blank canvas of skin. Yuta blinks, closing his mouth, and all of a sudden his tattoos are back, his teeth are white when he next smiles, and his eyes are full of the spark Jaehyun has learned to love.

"Sorry," Yuta says, letting go of Yangyang and taking a step back. Yangyang all but collapses, catching himself on the now-turned-over-table leg, wheezing.

"Dude, you're so heavy," Yangyang hisses out. "What the hell?"

Yuta smiles sheepishly. "You know how water weighs a lot..."

"Yeah, but I could've sworn you were getting heavier. I must be out of shape." Yangyang glances at Jaehyun, eyeing him with a great deal of caution. Jaehyun returns the sentiment. Yangyang's words still ring in his ears: _you witches pushed the rest of us down to elevate yourselves._

A sick thought enters Jaehyun unbidden. Jaehyun feels like Eve about to eat the apple; he should tell himself to stop, he knows this story ends. He doesn't listen to his own advice.

Jaehyun jolts upright, his spine snapping to attention. The sudden action has everyone on edge, especially Yangyang. But Jaehyun's mind is elsewhere, turning the idea over and over and hoping that it's _wrong._ It can't be true.

But the more he thinks about it, the more it _does_ make sense. The ease of the bonding, and the human inability to actually modify DNA in any meaningful way. Doyoung's grasp of magic. Taeyong not needing a witch's blood despite witch blood properties because he has Doyoung. The way Witch Law has been written to expressly include them but not their age-old enemies, werewolves and vampires.

Jaehyun lays his eyes on Mark, filled with crushing guilt. It can't be true, he pleads with himself as he remembers Mark on the ground and unconscious, brutalised by a crowd of humans—the pornography and the sex trafficking.

Did the witches create hybrids?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> well then.


End file.
